Left 2 Gether
by Lochellen C
Summary: Best friends Todd and Dee are stranded in a hellishly broken world with only each other to lean on... but what happens when their evolving relationship is violently severed?
1. 2 Gether

Chapter 1

Dee hunched in the dark corner of the safe house in the basement of the apartment building. She carefully aimed her flashlight toward the wall as she wrote in her diary so as not to disturb Todd. He was curled up in the only sleeping bag left among the dwindling supplies, with only a shock of flyaway black hair poking out from his warm cocoon. The Infected stumbled and clawed outside the door, creating a constant reminder of the danger that lay ahead the next day. A witch shrieked in the distance and Todd grumbled something in his sleep. Dee hurried to finish her diary entry.

_November 13, 2031_

_The nightly noise still bothers me. I should be used to it by now, I mean, it's been almost four months since the outbreak. I hardly ever sleep anyway. Could you, if you saw their rotting arms groping between the bars and their eerie eyes glinting in the beam of your flashlight? It's a kind of unnerving that I can't describe. I should really stop complaining, though._

_We're still alive. That's more than I can say for the people who passed through here ahead of us. There was Boomer gunk all over the inside of this new safe house when we got to it. Todd found a chewed up arm lying on top of the ammo pile. I really don't think any of them made it… the supplies were untouched. It makes you wonder if there's anyone left out there or if we're just struggling on for no reason. The last supposed stronghold we got to was deserted. I really hope this isn't just some sick treasure hunt that leads up to nothing._

Todd moaned groggily and Dee clicked the flashlight off.

"You're still awake?" he slurred.

"Yeah," Dee replied guiltily as she slipped her diary into her medical pack, "sorry I woke you."

"You didn't, I was cold. C'mon, you'll never be in any shape to fight tomorrow if you insist on listening to _them_ all night."

He unzipped the sleeping bag and opened it to her. She stood still and glanced at the Infected straining at the reinforced door. She couldn't see Todd in the dark, but judging by the sound he made she was almost certain he rolled his eyes. He fumbled for a pistol.

"If I say yes will you go to sleep?"

"I promise."

"Fine, just don't waste any bullets. We need to keep all we can."

Dee took the pistol, took a few steps closer, and squared her stance. She carefully picked off four Infected, but scores more waited behind the initial crowd. She sighed and handed the pistol back to Todd. He waved her down to the sleeping bag. She begrudgingly wiggled into it and zipped it up as far as she could. The worn sleeping bag was definitely meant for one person, but both of them were thin from small rations and the daily routine of running from the dead. They were able to lie back to back as per usual, even if it was a very tight squeeze.

Todd gave a tired wheeze of a sigh that had become endearingly familiar to Dee. That peculiar exhalation always managed to bring her back to when the world was normal. The wheeze had been there during backyard campouts, chats across the little alley between their houses that lasted hours, and, later, nightlong college cram sessions. Dee lost herself to the memories and fell asleep replaying one of their hundreds of window-to-window conversations.

* * *

Todd reclined against one side of the windowsill, one gangly leg swinging outside the window and one braced on his desk so he wouldn't lose his balance. He fidgeted with a scab on his elbow. Dee remembered the night clearly. It was an early fall evening and the two of them were up far later than either of their respective parents wittingly allowed. Todd had been uncharacteristically quiet for most of the night. Finally, once Dee had given up on prying conversation from him, he spoke.

"We never talk about girls," he said flatly, his thirteen year old voice cracking.

"So? Girls are stupid. They're dramatic."

"Boys are stupid, too, but you get to talk about them anyway."

"Okay… we'll talk about girls, then."

"Well, I was thinking… uh… maybe you could help me talk to one."

Dee, who had been lying on her bed, sat up and fixed him with a surprised look.

"Who?"

Todd focused even harder on the scab and picked at it until it bled. Blood started to heat his face.

"I don't wanna say."

"Why? I won't tell her."

"You'll laugh."

"Will not."

"You will."

"I won't. I promise!"

Todd's grey eyes flickered up at her and then back to the tiny remnant of scab that was left. He chewed his tongue and shook his head. Dee blew an exasperated sigh at him and flopped back on the bed.

"Fine. What do you want to say to her?"

"That I like her… and that I maybe want to go to homecoming with her."

"So, tell her that. Tell her like you told me."

"Naw, it sounds stupid that way."

He was redder than ever and the scab was completely gone. A dribble of blood plopped onto his shirt, but he kept on picking.

"Todd, you're bleeding."

He blinked and clapped a hand over his elbow. He shook his head quickly and looked up at Dee. His mouth quirked and he straightened up. It was his usual defense against embarrassment.

"G'night, Dee."

"But what about-"

"I'll catch you at the bus stop, okay?"

"Alright, but-"

He quickly climbed off of his windowsill, closed the window, and snapped the curtains shut. Dee stared at the curtains for a few moments, wishing intently that he would have just said what she'd known for years. She waited a few more moments and then closed her own window.

* * *

There was a flurry of noise and pain. Dee felt herself rip through the sleeping bag and slam against the bars of the reinforced door. She couldn't breathe. Dirty nails raked her skin and her bones buckled under a slimy vice. There was a blast from a rifle and hot pain flashed down her arm. The Infected's tongue fell away limp and she scrambled as far as she could from the door. Another shot and putrid smoke streamed through the bars. There was a reason they called them Smokers. Dee clamped one hand against her arm and dragged her shirt up over her nose with the other, though the action sent new arcs of agony through her nerves. She sucked air through the material into her aching lungs. Todd hacked as he picked her up and carried her to the other end of the tiny safe house.

"Hold on, okay? I think I heard another one," and, with that, he disappeared into the smoke.

Dee peered down at her arm through the thinning smoke. Blood was pooling in the spaces between her fingers and running in thick droplets down her hand. She winced and removed her hand from the wound. A chunk of flesh was missing from her upper arm, and, to her increased anguish, bits of shrapnel were drowning in her freely flowing blood. She tore open a medical kit with her free hand and jammed a roll of gauze into her mouth without opening the packaging. She took a rudimentary pair of tweezers from the pack and began to fish the bits of buckshot out of her flesh. Her teeth clamped down on the gauze as she involuntarily snarled. The edges of her vision began to blur and dim. She spat out the package of gauze.

"Todd? I could use some help… hurry…"

She was unconscious before her head hit the floor.

Todd offed the other Smoker and turned just in time to see Dee's skull connect with the concrete. He rushed to her. Blood was pooling around her arm at an alarming rate and her breath was shallow. He quickly ripped open a package of gauze that lay near her and began to stop up the wound. He used another package from his own kit to secure the wad in place. It took only seconds for the blood to bloom crimson against the bandages.

"C'mon, Dee, stay with me," he begged, gently tapping her greying cheek with his hand in hopes to coax her back to consciousness.

She didn't respond. This was his own damn fault. If he'd just stayed calm enough to hold his breath before he shot, this wouldn't have happened. His mind raced, but his thoughts were buffeted by the moans of the Infected outside. Think. Think…

"Shut up and give me a minute!" he shouted at the hoard.

They didn't shut up. She was getting colder. Working on intuition and the tugging feeling that he was moving in the right direction, Todd lifted her off of the floor and wrapped her in what was left of the sleeping bag. Her breathing regulated a little, but she was still deathly pale and bleeding. He fumbled with the contents his medical kit and hoped for inspiration. No coagulants. No huge bandages. No do-it-yourself blood transfusion supplies. There was a piece of elastic, though.

He grabbed Dee's pen from her medical kit and used it and the piece of elastic to fashion a tourniquet. He refreshed her bandages. She was bleeding less, now. He sighed. She was still very cold. Shock, he guessed. He carefully secured the tourniquet with medical tape and a couple of rubber bands that he found on the floor, and then stripped down to his briefs. He studied her for a few short moments.

"Don't wake up until I put my clothes back on," he muttered and pressed his body against her inside the ruined sleeping bag.

For years he had imagined what it would be like to lie in bed with her and feel her cuddled beside him, but even his most creatively constructed scenarios never put him in this position. She was cold and her bones felt so close under her skin. She had gotten much thinner than he had realized; she was almost emaciated. He would have to get her to take bigger portions of their rations… well, if she ever woke up again.

The thought froze him more thoroughly than the cold concrete beneath them. She couldn't die. He wouldn't let her. She was his best friend. He huddled closer to her and rubbed his hands together before passing them over her. He'd rub his hands raw if he had to.

She groaned.

"Dee?" he levered himself up on one arm.

"What… what do you… want to tell her?"

Todd's gut clenched for a moment. Was this her subconscious telling him she was going to die?

"What, Dee?"

She was silent.

"Dee, what did you say?"

"Tell her like you told me," she mumbled.

Todd blinked. That whack on the head must have shaken something loose. She wasn't making sense. He felt a strange sense of déjà vu, though. It didn't matter. He shook it off.

"Wake up, Dee. You need to wake up now," he shook her good arm gently.

Her eyes roved beneath their lids before slowly blinking open. She moaned and clutched her head with her good hand. Todd felt his face melt into a relieved smile. He cradled her head with one arm.

"Todd?" she asked somewhat groggily.

"Yeah?"

Her voice sharpened as her fuzzy thoughts came into focus. "You're in your underwear."


	2. Press On

Chapter 2

It didn't make sense to try and fight their way out to the next safe house with Dee's arm as weak as it was. Todd checked his watch. It was almost noon, just as his stomach had been hinting for the last hour. He quietly put his pants back on. Dee was asleep again, but she seemed to be far more stable this time. She didn't exhibit any signs of a concussion, just anemia. Fortunately, the gaping hole in her arm had begun to coagulate, so he was able to remove the tourniquet without too much worry. He watched the steady rise and fall of her chest and played her mumbled words in his head for the twentieth time.

_Tell her like you told me._ He'd heard that before, but he couldn't place it. Tell who what?

He shrugged into his shirt and dug through the meager remainder of their supplies. They had four pieces of jerky and a can of spam left. He bit into strip of jerky and hoped it would be enough to quell his protesting stomach. He lifted his shirt as he chewed and looked at the woefully apparent spaces between his ribs. Dee's were worse. The thought instantly soured the urge to take another piece of jerky. He set about cleaning their guns instead.

Dee's sleep was long but fitful. The burning in her arm woke her every time she attempted to roll onto her side. An uncomfortable lump had formed on the back of her head, too. Eventually, she gave up and opened her eyes. Todd was cleaning her pistol.

"You decided to put on clothes," she observed with a tired smile.

He blushed a bit and his grey gaze briefly met her face.

"I _was_ trying to help," he said with a cautious partial smile.

Her past words popped unbidden into her head. _Tell her like you told me._ Maybe it was her brush with death, or maybe it was the idea that they were the last ones left. Maybe it was delirium from losing too much blood. Whatever the reason, her mouth moved on its own.

"It felt nice," she said, and bit her tongue as she awaited his response.

He was stock still for a moment. He blinked at her and straightened up, his mouth quirking as it tended to do. Her heart thudded hard and she felt blood seep faster into her bandages. Todd put the gun aside.

"You did? I thought you were freaked out."

"Well, a little. I wasn't exactly _expecting_ you to be only in your skivvies when I woke up." Todd's face grew hotter and he dropped his gaze. "It still felt nice, though," she quickly amended.

Todd mumbled something too low for Dee to hear and picked up the gun again to finish cleaning it. Soon it was positively spotless, but he kept polishing it slowly and methodically, his expression miles away. Dee shifted under the sleeping bag.

"Did I say something wrong?"

Todd blinked and shook away his reverie. He smiled at her.

"Nope, just thinking."

"About what?"

"That you really should eat something," he said sliding the bag of jerky and can of spam across the floor to her. She frowned at him and picked out a thicker piece of jerky and began to gnaw on it. She closed the bag and made to slide it back to Todd. He shook his head.

"That's not near enough. You should have the rest of it… and the spam, too."

Dee bit down with her molars and tore off a bite of jerky.

"But what about you?" she asked, her words muffled slightly by the mouthful of food. She was hungrier than she had thought.

Todd shrugged a shoulder and put the gun aside.

"I already ate. Besides, we're going to get to the next safe house tomorrow. You'll need all the help you can get."

"Tomorrow?"

"We've spent more than enough time here. One more day, and we'll be completely out of supplies."

He was right. Three days in one safe house was a risk they probably wouldn't have taken if she hadn't gotten hurt. Now, thanks to that setback, they had about the equivalent of one medical kit between them, very little water, and barely enough ammunition to get them to the next safe house. To add to the fun, she was definitely going to be a hindrance now that she couldn't properly fire a gun.

"What time is it, now?" she asked.

Todd glanced at his wristwatch.

"Almost five. Why?"

"Well, I don't think the adrenaline has worn off completely yet. The sooner we go, the easier it will be for me to move."

"You want to go tonight," Todd clarified skeptically, "when you are still pale as a sheet?"

"It's either I travel with slower reflexes tomorrow, or run now while my body hasn't figured out how badly it's hurt."

Todd's face turned tense with concern.

"Just don't get hurt again, Dee," he said, finally, "I can only take so much of that in one day."

She wanted to say, _well don't shoot me next time_, but thought better of it. Instead, she tossed the can of spam to him.

"Here. I don't like spam."

Dee took the last few minutes before they braved the subway just outside of the apartment complex to jot down an entry in her diary.

November 14, 2031

A smoker strangled me, Todd shot me, and later he fondled me in his underwear. All in all, a good day.

She packed away the diary and bloodstained pen into her medical kit and picked up the rifle. There were no more cartridges for it, but she could swing it hard enough to do some damage. It was a lot better than trying to shoot straight with a bad arm. Todd finished reloading his standard, the AK-47, and picked off what zombies he could see. He checked the crumpled and worn map to the next safe house one more time before opening the door. A chill rushed over Dee. It always felt better to have the door closed.

The stairs down to the subway line were eerily quiet. Todd swept the staircase with the beam of his flashlight again and again with nervous energy. Still silent. Dee's muscles wound painfully tight with each passing moment of stillness. She felt her bandages start to dampen with blood again and couldn't help but think that the scent of it might be a beacon for the Infected. She tried to relax, but it proved impossible.

As quickly and quietly as they could, Todd and Dee made their way down the stairs and into the lobby of the subway station. Fluorescent lights flickered and buzzed erratically above them, casting strange shapes on the walls that seemed to move. A thread of blood unraveled from Dee's wound and splatted onto the floor before she could wipe it away. Somewhere in the lobby, something growled.

Todd cringed and pushed Dee up against a wall behind him. He crouched, looking around frantically for the source of the growl. Dee held her rifle like a baseball bat, ready to strike if the Infected decided to attack. The shadows continued to flutter wildly around the lobby. They couldn't be sure which one had teeth, and staying still was wasting time. They had to press on.

There was another set of stairs leading up out of the lobby. They passed silently through the turnstiles without too much incident and made their way up the stairs. Halfway up, they heard something clatter against the arms of a turnstile and a screech of frustration. The Hunter had given away his position. They ran up the stairs and were met with another fairly sized room with the subway tracks running along the opposite wall, but this one did not have shadows to worry about. It was entirely dark.

Todd checked around the corner that led to the subway tracks while Dee watched the large room and stairs. All seemed clear, so they scurried down the tracks and through abandoned subway cars. That is, until the ground started to shake and a sound like an angered bull echoed somewhere in the tunnel. A Tank. The two burst into a sprint down the tracks, hoping that they weren't heading _toward_ their monstrous foe.

A snarl came from somewhere over Todd's shoulder, followed by resounding thud of the Hunter landing on top of one of the subway cars. Todd turned and fired, but their pursuer ducked at the last moment. They had to keep running. The thundering vibrations from the Tank were getting stronger by the moment. To their left lay a loading station and flight of stairs. Todd was up on the ledge of the loading bay helping Dee up when they finally saw the hulking beast charging down the tracks.

The Tank's upper body was massive and covered in blood and grime. Its comparatively small face was nestled deep into its enormous surrounding muscles and glaring evilly at them with inhuman intent. It roared and bent to tear a section of track out of the ground to throw at Todd and Dee. They flung themselves into the stairwell just as the beast was able to rip the track free and hurl it against the doorjamb.

"Good, it blocked its own path," panted Todd as they sprinted up the stairs and into a large electrical generator facility.

The massive room was dark, but that suited them fine. At least, it did until Dee slipped on some unseen object on the floor and almost toppled a large plywood barricade left by the people who had gone before them. Luckily, the offending item beneath her foot turned out to be a pipe bomb, probably put together by a survivor that had gone before them. That could come in handy.

On the other side of the generator room lay a metal door that had been ripped quite forcibly off of its track. Below, it sounded like the Tank was doing its best to bulldoze its way up the stairs and the Hunter was howling in frustration that the big brute wouldn't let him through. They slipped through the metal door and took the stairs in front of them up to the second story where a cluster of offices sat in utter disarray. There was no time to lose. From the slams and roars they heard, the Tank was succeeding in bashing its way into the generator room.

Past the offices was another flight of stairs that led down to the lobby of the generator facility. Through the large windows of the lobby they could see the task ahead: a wide street positively flooded with Infected. Dee nudged Todd and handed him the pipe bomb that she had so clumsily found. He activated it and threw it, drawing the majority of the Infected with its beeps and small flashing lights. Behind them, the Hunter sprang through the door to the lobby.

They ran. Hard. According to the map, the safe house was only a couple blocks away in the back room of an old pawn shop. They could see it easily at the end of the street. The pipe bomb exploded and dispatched the hoard that had been milling about on the street. The Hunter, however, was unfazed and angry and not going to give up its prey. It climbed part way up a wall, leaped sideways, slammed into Todd, and took him down in a split second. Dee's heart stopped as she watched his AK-47 go clattering across the pavement, too far from reach. The creature started to rip at Todd's stomach with its horrible claws. Dee hammered at the monster with the butt of her rifle, striking it again and again on its blue-hooded head. Todd was able to shove the Hunter off while she had it distracted and grab his pistol from his side.

He was a little woozy. One shot ricocheted off of a nearby lamp post, but the other bit deep into the Hunter's shoulder. It screamed in agony and scuttled away down an alley. They took the opportunity to run like hell. Dee's arm was on fire from swinging the gun and blood was dripping down Todd's ruined shirt. They had to keep moving. The Hunter was tailing them, ready for more. They couldn't slow down. A Tank roared in the distance. There wasn't time. The gurgles and moans of the damned were drawing together in an uncanny chorus. Another wave was coming. Todd scooped up his AK-47 and the Hunter's claws narrowly missed him.

Finally, after what seemed like ages of pushing their burning muscles to move faster, Todd slid the lock bar into place behind them. The Hunter slammed in frustration against the reinforced door of the safe house. Dee attempted to get rid of the thing with a bullet from her pistol, but her shot went wild when her arm spasmed in pain and she only managed to scare the creature deeper into the shadows. No matter. They were safe.


	3. A Rock and a Hard Place

Chapter 3

They were not terribly fortunate with the supplies left in the new safe house. There were a few half-used med kits, some cans of mixed fruit, two or three cans of tuna, a small collection of water bottles, and very few bullets that actually matched their weapons. They were grateful, however, for a surplus of bedding that greatly overshadowed their one-person sleeping bag from the night before. There was also a large collection of battery operated lanterns that were still functional. It was nice to have some decent light for a change.

Todd carefully applied antibiotic ointment to the evil-looking slashes on his stomach, but his focus was on his peripheral. Dee was constructing a bed -to the best of her ability with one useful arm—out of a few sleeping bags and a number of blankets that they had gathered together from around the safe house. She looked pitiful, hard though she tried to hide her pain. She was pale as ever and hunched in utter exhaustion. Blood stained most of her arm and some continued to ooze sluggishly from under the bandages. He tossed the tube of ointment aside.

"Take a break. I'll put the bed together," he said, taking a corner of the blanket she was currently struggling to smooth.

"I've got it," she replied with a hint of crabbiness in her voice as she tried to tug the blanket free from him.

He shrugged off the bite in her tone. It wasn't the first time she'd gotten snippy with him after a long day. He shifted his grip on the blanket to keep her from pulling it away from him and accidentally brushed her hand with his. Her grip momentarily loosened in surprise at the breech of their usual physical boundaries, and he was able to take the opportunity to flick the blanket to rest smoothly on top of the others. He fought the urge to grin when he caught a glimpse of her pursed lips. Sometimes he liked irritating her just to see her scrunch up her mouth that way. This happened to be one of those times. He grabbed another blanket and added it to the pile.

Dee resignedly sat down on a decrepit wooden chair and looked around. Empty gauze packages littered one corner room. The wrappers stood out in sharp contrast to their dusty surroundings. It appeared to her that another party had been there recently, but at least one of them was gravely wounded. She thought about that. Despite her torn up arm and Todd's deep cuts, they had been very lucky so far. It unsettled her. Eventually, their luck had to run out. It twisted her already frayed nerves to think that something could happen to them. Something could happen to Todd.

She glanced at him as he put the finishing touches on their makeshift bed. Any time he'd touched her hand before, it was either to yank her out of the way of the trouble she inevitably got into or pat it reassuringly. Tonight was different. Heat and electricity had erupted on contact. Strangely, it angered her. She'd ached for that sensation for ages. Sure, she'd assuaged it with a few scattered romances during high school and college, but her desires were always inexorably drawn back to him. Now, at what could easily be the end of the world, what could very well be the end of their lives, it seemed that he had decided he wanted to act on the feelings that they had locked tightly away for years. Where the hell had he been all of this time? All the built up frustration from her ignored hints and failed attempts at making their relationship advance seemed to burst through their barriers at once.

She set her jaw and stalked over to the sink. From the look of it, it wasn't likely to give her any water. She twisted the knob and nothing happened. She twisted it back to the off position. Then on. Nothing. Off, then on, off, then on. Same result. She felt Todd's eyes on her but she didn't care. She went to her medical kit and tore it open. Furiously, she scrubbed at the dried blood on her arm with an antiseptic wipe. Her forehead was starting to hurt from scowling.

Todd sat on the bed and watched Dee threaten to rub her skin raw. What had gotten into her?

"If you aren't careful, you won't have an arm left after all of that scrubbing," he said in an attempt at creating some levity. Her head snapped up and she glared at him. The optimistic grin on his face withered under her cold green stare.

"Are you okay?"

She fixed her gaze back on her bloodied arm and he saw her jaw muscles clench.

"Fine," she hissed through gritted teeth.

"Is this about the bed? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she growled shortly as she tossed the bloodstained wipe into the corner of the safe house that seemed to be designated for trash.

Todd was getting annoyed. He knew this verbal game and hated it. He could never win.

"Alright, don't tell me. I'll be over here if you decide you want to talk like a reasonable person."

The words stung enough to coax Dee part of the way out of her tantrum. She was being immature… but she reminded herself that had the right to be angry. She looked back up at him and, begrudgingly, her face softened. He was on the makeshift bed chewing his tongue and furrowing his brow at his hands. He was utterly clueless, she knew. Her anger began to deflate, but a stubborn little part of her tried desperately to hold onto her indignation. He _had_ to know what he was doing. Right?

But, if she was fair, all he did was brush his hand against hers. He hadn't kissed her. He hadn't pulled her into an embrace. He hadn't even given her a look. It was just skin against skin; easily an accident. She rubbed a tired eye and grimaced. She was being stupid.

"I'm sorry," she sighed and released the tension in her shoulders with another exhaled breath, "I'm just not thinking clearly. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

Todd shrugged a shoulder, obviously irritated as well. He chewed his tongue for a few long moments and finally expelled his tired wheeze.

"We've both had a rough night. Let's just drop it and start over tomorrow, okay?" He turned to read her face.

She nodded, feeling the remainder of that indignant voice in her head fall silent. It was replaced with a deep and crushing exhaustion that threatened to force her eyelids shut right at that moment. She shuffled to the bed and carefully lay down. After he turned off the lanterns Todd lay down as well, and turned his back to her, as usual.

"Thanks, Todd," she said, sounding about as small and vulnerable as she felt.

She heard him shift under the blankets and felt his eyes on her, though she couldn't see two inches in front of her face.

"Stop worrying," he said, "we're cool, Dee. G'night."

The words "we're cool" would have meant little to anyone else, but Dee knew their full meaning. He had forgiven her stupid tantrum. The words warmed her tired body and she cuddled deeper into the mass of blankets.

"G'night," she whispered and let herself slip into oblivion.

Todd was stretched to the very end of wakefulness, but frustratingly unable to sleep. A muted growling echoed in the front of the pawn shop. The Hunter hadn't left since they entered the safe house, and it was driving him crazy. All of the Hunters he had encountered in the past were never so tenacious. This oddball unnerved him. He quietly slipped out of bed and picked up his pistol. There was no reason for him not to be rid of the persistent Infected.

He poked his flashlight between the bars of the safe house door and swept the front room with its beam. He couldn't find the damn thing anywhere. Suddenly, a clawed and grey-mottled hand knocked the flashlight out of Todd's grip. The Hunter leapt on the offending object with a snarl and bashed it against the floor until the light went out. Todd heard the unmistakable _thump_ of the Hunter's sneakered feet meeting the wall above the door and quickly backed away. There was no way he could safely squeeze off a shot at that angle. The Hunter was obviously smart. That worried Todd more than he cared to admit.

He gripped the pistol so long and so hard that his hand started to go numb. It had to be past midnight, he guessed. Unable to keep his eyes open much longer, he relented and crawled back into bed. There would be time to take care of the Hunter in the morning. At long last, Todd went to sleep. Outside, the Hunter's feet met the floor with a slap that nobody was awake to hear.

They slept late into the next morning. As soon as Dee opened her eyes, she felt watched. She looked over at Todd. He was still in his typical sleeping pose, with just his wild hair sticking out from the Todd burrito he had created from his share of the blankets. Just she was started to feel a smile tug at the corners of her mouth, she heard an urgent clicking noise coming from the direction of the reinforced door.

She saw a Hunter through the bars, its dried and bloodied lips twisted in frustration over equally stained teeth. It was frantically working the doorknob back and forth. When it found that the door was not going to open, it began to claw and snarl and bite at the door knob, shifting instantly from something strangely resembling reason to typical mindless Hunter aggression. Dee reached for her pistol but a jolt of pain in her arm made her recoil. She nudged Todd and clamped her good hand over his mouth when he gasped his way awake.

His brows furrowed as his sleepy mind started to clear and Dee pointed to the door, wincing when another painful shock traveled up her arm. Todd quietly rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up slowly to reach for his gun. The Hunter wasn't getting away this time, he told himself. His fingers met the metal of the gun and the Hunter suddenly stopped attacking the doorknob. The creature's shadowed face hardened into fearful lines when it peered through the bars and saw Todd. It clutched at its wounded shoulder in memory and it leapt away from the door just as Todd swung the gun around to fire.

"Did you see that?" whispered Dee.

Todd pushed himself into the sitting position and nodded, "He's a lot smarter than any other Hunter we've dealt with. I tried to shoot him last night, but he knocked my flashlight out of my hand and made sure I couldn't use it again."

Dee shuddered and sat up, "What if there are more like that one? What if they're getting smarter?"

Todd looked at her and saw the fear in her eyes. He squeezed her good shoulder and gave her an encouraging smile.

"We'll just have to be smarter than them," he said with a confidence he didn't really feel.

He felt Dee's anxiety lessen, but his intensified. How the hell were they supposed to defend themselves from God knew how many smart Hunters? The one at the door seemed to be about one step down from them in the reasoning department. What sort of plans could a group of them create together? He rubbed his eyes and got up to change his bandages.

Dee sat in bed for a little bit longer. She didn't relish the thought of leaving the warm blankets and facing the reality of yesterday's injuries. The goose egg on her head throbbed, her arm was painfully swollen, and the rest of her body felt weak and strange, as if all of her muscles had turned to mush. She finally made herself get up –albeit unsteadily- when Todd tossed her a roll of gauze for her arm and it flew over her head.

She followed the runaway roll to the door and cautiously took a peek outside. The sun was bright outside and sparse Infected were shuffling around on the street. As she watched, she tried to see if any of them moved with purpose or showed any signs of thought like the Hunter had. She didn't find anything unusual; all of the Infected that she could see moved in their typical sluggish way without seeming to know where they were going. That was a comforting thought.

Suddenly, glass shattered. Dee and Todd instantly looked to the two boarded up windows on the back wall of the safe house. One of the planks that protected the first window rattled under the determined hands of whatever had broken the glass. Todd grabbed a formidable looking desk from one end of the room and braced it against the window. There was a familiar frustrated snarl and the crash of the other window breaking. There was nothing left that could be used to barricade the window. They would have to leave while the Hunter was distracted.

Dee snatched up the medical supplies and food while Todd hurried to reload their guns and checked the map for the next safe house. He grimaced when he saw that they would have to use the city's sewer system. The Hunter pounded against the boards, splintering two and loosening a few nails. Dee unlocked the door as quietly as she could and the pair slipped out into the front room of the pawn shop. Todd stepped over the remains of his flashlight and quickly scanned the room for any supplies that they might find useful. He found a bottle of whiskey and a lighter and put them in his medical kit.

There was no time to lose. Todd drew his AK-47 and moved hunched in front of Dee, who held her rifle-turned-club at the ready. They were spotted immediately and the Infected came from all sides. Todd was able to mow most of them down, however, and Dee managed to dispatch a couple with the butt of the rifle. Once free, they ran as fast as they were able in the direction of the electrical plant that they had passed through just the night before. Todd was fairly certain that Dee didn't have the stamina to take the course planned on the map, so he improvised. They turned right down an alley that led to the next street over.

A woman sat sobbing in the alley behind a car that blocked their path. Dee's blood ran cold. A Witch. The Infected woman's light hair shook as she cried, the bright red glow of her eyes sometimes escaping through gaps in the too-long fingers that shielded her face. Todd turned and shot a couple of curious Infected that had wandered down the alley. The Witch didn't seem to care. She was too caught up in whatever it was she was bawling about. Dee saw Todd take out his med kit.

"This is no time to change your bandages," she hissed, gesturing with her rifle at the Witch.

Todd gave her a look and produced the bottle of whiskey and lighter from his kit. He carefully tore a strip of cloth from his already ruined shirt and fashioned a sort of Molotov cocktail. The fuse lit with a hiss and he threw the bottle over the car at the Witch. Fire erupted across the alley and the Witch shrieked in what could have been anger or pain or both. Hampered by the car blocking her path toward her attackers, she turned and ran the other way, engulfed and screaming like something out of hell.

Todd flashed Dee a triumphant grin before turning to pick off the straggling Infected that shambled down the alley. Once the fire from the Molotov had died, they climbed over the car –Dee managed to burn a few knuckles and both knees on the hot metal—and made their way to the next street.

A large office building stood higher than the other buildings on that road, and Todd knew it was the one that the map said they should go to. A lift would bring them to the top floor, where he was sure they would be even more vulnerable than they already were. Once they got to the top floor, they would have to make their way back down to the ground level to enter the sewer. There was no way Dee had that sort of stamina. She was slowing their progress already.

Todd took a moment to redirect their course. If they continued down the road they were on for maybe ten or eleven blocks and then turned right, they should have a straight shot to the next safe house at Mercy Hospital. It was a longer route, but at least they could see their surroundings and wouldn't have to worry about contaminating their wounds in the sewer.

They headed down the road at an increasingly faltering pace. Dee was having a hard time keeping her rifle up and running at the same time. Short bouts of dizziness were starting to impede her, as well, but they had to keep moving. She crashed into Todd when he suddenly stopped in front of her.

"What-"

He silenced her with an upheld hand. In a moment, she knew. The ground shook beneath them. From the volume of its roars, she guessed that Tank wasn't very far away. They had to clear the street before it saw them. That was really their only chance; even if they were both as healthy as they could possibly be, it very unlikely that they could take down the beast without outside help. The strengthening vibrations worked their way from the ground up Dee's weak legs. She still couldn't see the beast, but that could have been because her vision was starting to blur.

Todd looked around frantically for some place to hide. The office building was an impossibility. The clothing store next to it was too boarded up to try and break into. The expensive restaurant further down the street had huge windows that left them wide open for an attack. He turned around. Perfect. The library was an old building with thin windows and tall, stylized doors. The Tank might be able to break into the building, but he'd have a hard time getting around. Plus, floors and floors of bookshelves would provide ample opportunities to hide.

Another, much louder roar heralded the Tank's arrival. It stopped at the end of the street and lifted onto its legs to get a good whiff of the air. Good. It hadn't seen them yet. Still watching the Tank, Todd reached out and grabbed the first part of Dee his hand met: her injured arm. She gave a pained yelp and clapped her good hand over her mouth. The ground rumbled and a furious roar shook the air. They'd been spotted.

Todd pulled Dee along, this time grasping her sleeve instead of her arm. The library door was locked. From a rooftop a couple buildings away, they heard the familiar screech of a Hunter. The Tank was barreling down the street toward them. And then, to put the icing on this already fatal cake, Dee fainted dead away.


	4. Unexpected

Chapter 4

Todd began to drag Dee around the building to see if there was a fire escape to attempt to climb, all the while cussing and trying to keep an eye on both threats. At least having to climb a fire escape would slow the Tank down a little bit… he hoped. He drug Dee far enough to steal a glance down the alley on the other side of the library. No fire escape in sight, but no threats, either. He left Dee curled behind a garbage can where she couldn't be seen. His mind was assembling a weak plan. It was the only hope he had.

He took a breath and charged into the street, shouting and waving his gun like a madman. The Tank roared and lowered itself toward the ground to launch toward Todd. Todd, still flailing and raving, positioned himself in front of the locked doors of the library. The Tank's muscled bunched for a split second and then it was airborne. Todd quickly rolled out of the way just in time. There was a Tank-sized hole where the library doors had stood just a moment ago.

Perfect.

He heard the massive beast snarling and bellowing as it destroyed the bookshelves inside the library. It was looking for him. He slipped back into the alley to retrieve Dee. She was still unconscious, but otherwise unharmed. He crouched, pulled her into a fireman's carry, and then waited at the demolished library entrance until he was sure that the Tank was busy taking apart the other end of the first floor before sneaking in and trying to locate the elevator.

His heart sank when he saw it. The doors had been wrenched open. He trudged through piles of books and looked inside. The button panel had been ripped out of the wall. Damn. So much for that idea. He looked around, wracking his brain for a plan b.

Books. More books. Shattered shelving. An overturned desk. Nothing on the ground floor was triggering any inspiration for a daring escape plan. The bellowing was growing louder and the vibrations from the floor were getting stronger. The bastard had exhausted the back part of the ground floor and was coming back. Without time to think, Todd put Dee in the elevator and took off in the other direction. He knocked over as many things as he could, and pounded his feet on the floor. At least he could try to keep the Tank distracted enough to leave her alone.

Then Todd saw it. There was a door leading to the stairs. He turned and sprinted back to the elevator. Dee coughed weakly and her eyelids fluttered when Todd reached the ruined doors. Good, maybe she could actually help him out. He roughly pulled her into his arms and tore toward the stairs, narrowly dodging a flying bookcase in the process. He made it through the door and started immediately up the stairs. He heard the Tank's roar somewhere outside. At least it wasn't trying the stairs.

At the end of one flight, his eyes were burning. Halfway through the second flight, his lungs were struggling to pull in air. Something was desperately wrong. A familiar hacking cough echoed above him. How the hell did a Smoker get into a locked building? No time... Where was it? There. It was watching them between the bars of the railing. He drew his gun up with one hand and fired. He missed. He fired again and got it between the eyes. Lucky shot. Greenish smoke clouded the stairwell. He lumbered through it and pushed through the door to the second floor.

Wind whipped his face. There was a gaping hole in one wall. So _that's_ where the Smoker had come from. He scanned what he could see of the floor. There didn't seem to be any other infected nearby. He propped Dee against a wall and slumped next to her. Her breathing was shallow, but consistent. Her eyes roved restlessly beneath their lids. Todd pushed her hair back to feel her forehead. She was clammy. Well, it was better than a fever.

She gasped and grabbed his wrist.

"Glad to have you back," he murmured with a tired grin.

Dee looked around. Where were they?

As if he heard her thoughts, Todd said, "We're on the second floor of a library. There's a pissed off Tank downstairs, a Hunter somewhere outside, and a dead Smoker in the stairwell."

Dee pressed a hand to her forehead. A massive headache fogged her thoughts.

"How'd we get here?"

"I carried you."

"You fought a Tank alone?"

"There was less fighting and more running like hell…" Todd whispered, tapering off and looking around the bookcase-filled room. Somewhere, a book hit the floor.

Dee didn't hear. She tried to remember what happened before she blacked out. The door hadn't worked.

"You got the door open?"

Todd didn't answer. Instead, he pressed a finger to his lips and crept behind a bookcase. He carefully peeked around the edge of the shelves. There it was. The Hunter from the safe house was clutching its shoulder and methodically looking down each row of books. It sagged close to the ground, breathing raggedly and moving weakly. When it turned to look down the next row of books, Todd saw that blood from its wound had thoroughly soaked one side of its hoodie. It was almost dead and still looking for them. Maybe it wasn't so smart, after all.

He lined up the shot. He could take it down easily. He exhaled, inhaled, held his breath, and…

_Thump_. It fell to the floor.

He hadn't fired. Blood crept onto the carpet around the fallen Hunter, but it kept breathing. Todd took a few cautious steps toward the frail Infected. Save for the labored heaving of its chest, it didn't move. Todd kept his gun trained on it and moved even closer. One clawed hand feebly lifted as if to reach for him and dropped. With a shoe, Todd flipped the Hunter's hood back to get a good look. He nearly dropped his gun. Dee made a strangled noise of fear from somewhere behind him.

Two intelligent albeit jaundiced dark eyes blinked up at him. The emotions behind that stare were so articulate, so… human. The Hunter's mouth formed a thin line as it strove to put distance between itself and Todd. It was too weak to go very far. Todd picked up his gun.

_Shoot it. Just shoot it. _Said a part of his mind, _You don't know if it's just a trick. Don't risk your life and Dee's._

But it seemed so scared and hurt. It obviously couldn't go anywhere…

_It's _smart_. It could be trying to trick you. Shoot it._

But those eyes. They kept watching him, searching his face for… what? Pity? Todd looked down at the bandages around his middle and looked back up at the Hunter. It made a small noise and looked away. It slowly picked up a hand and began clawing at its own stomach, cutting through the hoodie, through the shirt beneath, and finally flesh. It growled quietly and squeezed its eyes shut.

"Hey, stop!" Todd barked, his voice cracking from sudden use, "Don't do that!"

He heard Dee come unsteadily up behind him. She had picked up a large book and held it at the ready to bludgeon the Hunter if she had to. Todd looked back at her and handed her his gun.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her eyes widening, "That thing could kill you and you know I can't use this gun. C'mon, Todd, let's get out of here."

"We can't just leave him…"

"It tried to _kill_ you."

"He isn't trying now."

"That's because it's almost dead!"

Todd looked down at the Hunter, at a loss of what to do. The Hunter whimpered and looked at Dee. It slowly reached out a shaking hand and gently tugged at Todd's pant leg. Its ragged breath hitched in its chest and its face twisted in misery. It lifted its other hand toward Todd's gun and motioned to its chest.

"Is that really what you want? We could help you. We have medicine-"

The Hunter suddenly began to snarl viciously. It made a show of its claws and bloodied teeth, but made no effort to touch the survivors. Then, it lowered its hands and looked at them sorrowfully before staring up at Todd. The message was clear.

_You can't help me._

Dee felt tears sting at the back of her eyes. This was so strange. Hunters weren't supposed to be people anymore, but here this one was, acting on the same emotions that any survivor would have under the same circumstances. No. It was a fluke. It was probably trying to trick them.

The Hunter yanked with surprising strength on Todd's pant leg.

_Get on with it._

Todd shakily took the gun from Dee and aimed at the Hunter's forehead. The Hunter clenched its teeth. Sweat beaded on its grimy forehead and blood seeped out of the wound on its shoulder faster. One hand clenched something in its pocket.

Todd lowered the gun again. There was no way he could do it. The Hunter cautiously opened one eye and gave a low growl.

"No," Todd said finally, "we're going to help you."

Dee shot him a look but he ignored her. They were going to use the rest of their supplies on an Infected. Sure, it was a strange kind of Infected, but it was an Infected nonetheless. How did he know it wouldn't kill them in the night if it got hungry? She took a can of tuna from her medical kit and stuffed it into the pocket of her sweatshirt. She wasn't giving up her share to Todd's new pet.

Todd cleaned the Hunter's shoulder despite its feeble growls and plugged the wound with gauze. The Hunter watched warily the entire time, its gaze bouncing from Todd to Dee and back. Todd put a reassuring hand on the Hunter's intact shoulder.

"We aren't going to hurt you unless you hurt us first," he said, "calm down."

The Hunter seemed to understand. Soon it was absorbed in watching Todd wrap its wounded shoulder instead. Todd was amazed at its intelligence. It appeared to be studying his wrapping technique and he thought he caught it weakly trying to recreate the winding motion with its good hand. He stopped wrapping.

"You try," he told the Hunter and pressed the roll of gauze into its hand.

The Hunter glanced at him and its mouth set in a firm line of concentration. It moved slowly, carefully, doing its best not to rip the gauze with its claws. After a few attempts and putting a few holes in the gauze, it snarled and threw the roll on the ground.

"Hey, careful!"

Todd picked up the gauze quickly.

"We don't need to get dirt on it."

The Hunter grumbled something and hunched its shoulders. Todd guessed it could have been an apology.

"It's alright. You didn't know."

He heard Dee sigh exasperatedly behind him. He glanced back at her. She was fixing him with an annoyed glare.

"Can you not do this right now? He needs help," shot Todd defensively.

"Quit giving it a first aid lesson! Just wrap its shoulder and let's focus on getting _out of here_," she snapped.

Todd turned his back to her and bit his tongue. He finished wrapping the Hunter's shoulder and wondered what to do next. Between Dee and the Hunter, there was no way they'd make it to the next safe house. It was suicide to try to move them both when they were so weak. He looked back at the stairwell. Maybe the next story up would be safer than this one. They could stay in this building if they could put together a barricade. He looked at the Hunter.

"Can you walk?"

The Hunter drew its legs to its chest and braced itself against the bookcase with one arm. It got into its usual crouch and wobbled slightly, but caught itself. It looked at Todd and shrugged with unconvincing nonchalance.

Todd turned to Dee.

"Let's try the next floor. There's no way that we can make it to the safe house today. I'm tired, you haven't had time to heal, and the Hunter should probably rest, too."

Dee picked up the large book again and crossed her arms.

"Great, glad you're being so damn cooperative," growled Todd before he gathered up his gun and medical gear and walked to the stairwell.

He passed his flashlight up and down the stairwell shaft. They seemed to be alone. He slowly made his way up the next flight to the third floor and carefully opened the door. All of the walls seemed to be intact. Good. Better yet, no Infected wandered the floor.

About half an hour later, they had managed to pile several bookcases against the two doors that gave access to the third floor. Dee had pulled down the thick curtains from the windows to use for bedding and managed to put together a decent sized makeshift bed. She still wasn't talking to Todd.

_Instead, she wrote in her journal._

_November Whatever Day it is, 2031_

_Todd's lost it. He is insisting on taking in a wounded Hunter and nursing it back to health, as if we didn't have enough to worry about right now. We're stuck in a library until tomorrow, because none of us are in any shape to keep moving, and we have almost no supplies left. The idiot's gone and used just about all of his gauze on his pet Hunter, so we're screwed if he gets hurt. We have a few cans of fruit and two cans of tuna left. That's barely enough for Todd and me, let alone an Infected. What do they eat, anyway? Oh, right. PEOPLE._

_We should have let it bleed out. I'm sure this whole "Good Hunter" act is a trap. It's smart, that much we know. It is probably smart enough to make a plan like that. Maybe I'll barricade it into a corner once Todd falls asleep. At least _we'd _be safe._

She snapped the diary shut and put it back in her medical kit with a sigh. She felt markedly less angry, but still very confused about Todd's logic and distrustful of the Hunter's intentions. She popped open the can of tuna from her pocket and started digging out mouthfuls with her fingers. She felt Todd's gaze on her. She wasn't ready to talk to him yet. Instead, she took the other can of tuna from her kit and tossed it to him.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

She avoided his eyes and shrugged. She heard his tired wheeze and her heart clenched. She was being stupid again, but couldn't make herself talk to him. Things she didn't mean would definitely fly out of her mouth. She downed the rest of the tuna and got into bed. Todd took a couple curtains and fell asleep a few feet away. The night rolled on in awkward silence.

The Hunter sat about ten feet away for about an hour and a half, eyeing the medical kit with the food in it. Dee pulled a curtain closer to herself and watched. The Hunter put a clawed hand to its stomach but stayed where it was. It looked at her and then to the kit.

"You can have one can of fruit," she said finally.

It tilted its head curiously and shifted a little closer to the kit.

"Yes, go get it."

The Hunter crawled to the kit and unzipped it with some difficulty as its claws kept getting in the way. It pulled out all the cans of fruit.

"Just one of them," Dee said sharply as she freed one hand from the curtain.

The Hunter shrunk back from the cans. She couldn't help but feel a little guilty for scaring it, even if she didn't want to admit it.

"One," she said, holding up her index finger.

The Hunter mimicked her uncertainly, holding up its own finger. She saw its hand shaking.

"Good. One."

The Hunter slowly reached for one can. Dee nodded. It snatched the can and quickly backed away. Dee sighed and kicked away the curtains.

"Look," she muttered as she got up to put the rest of the cans away, "I'm not going to hurt you. I just… I'm afraid of you. I don't know what you want or why you've been chasing us. Things like you have tried to kill us before. Why do I even bother? You probably don't get what I'm saying anyway."

The Hunter gingerly came up to her, picked up the cans, and put them back in the kit. It awkwardly put a hand on her shoe. Her heart thudded hard. When it saw her fearful expression, it pulled back immediately and scuttled a few feet away.

"No, wait," she said in a soft voice that surprised her, "I… uh… I'm Dee. That over there is Todd. Do you… well… do you know your name anymore?"

The Hunter reached into its pocket and pulled out a wallet. It held the wallet gingerly, almost reverently. Hesitantly, it came to Dee and put it into her hand. She opened it. All that was left inside was a driver's license and a worn photograph. She took out the license first. The man in picture looked very much like the Hunter; his square jaw, his almond shaped eyes, his dark brown hair… his eyes were different, though. They had once been a light brown, but now as she looked at him his irises were almost black. The Hunter looked away when he realized she was studying him.

She went back to the driver's license. Jack Bruckner. Age thirty-two. Organ donor. She looked back up at him.

"You're Jack?"

The Hunter straightened at the name and slowly looked up at her as if he were trying to place the familiarity of it.

"This says that your name is Jack Bruckner."

Jack placed a hand on his chest and his face brightened. He slapped the ground in triumph.

_I _am _Jack Bruckner._

Dee smiled at him. Maybe he wasn't a threat after all. She returned her attention to the wallet and dug out the photograph. It was a picture of Jack and a boy that looked to be about four. The little boy had Jack's eyes and nose.

"Your son," she guessed, feeling her lungs constrict at the thought of a four year old facing the hell they were going through.

Jack's face suddenly fell from his peak of happiness to a chasm of such sorrow that deep creases formed even through the thick layer of dirt and blood on his face. He held out his hand for the wallet, which Dee gave him, and he slowly made his way to the nest he'd made with one of the curtains. As Dee climbed into bed and began to fall asleep, she could have sworn she heard his ragged breath turn to hitching sobs.

* * *

AN: Wow, thank you everyone for the feedback and views! I feel so encouraged to keep writing. Also, I came across this great fanart of Todd (crazy, right?). I've got to say that the eyes could stand to be a bit grey-er, but overall this is very close to what he looks like! gallery/39079753#/d5h8r0u


	5. Figuring It

Chapter 5

Jack didn't sleep for a long time. The confusing woman had long since gone to sleep, but he couldn't. He gently stroked his clawed thumb over the picture from his wallet as he gazed at it in the dim moonlight from a nearby window. Where was Small now? His teeth sank into his bottom lip. It hurt that he couldn't remember Small's name. Jack and his wife and given Small a name on the day he was born, but that name was gone now. Just like his wife. Just like his world. Just like the way things used to make sense.

He tried to open the food that the confusing woman had called One. It was impossible. There was a loop of metal that he was supposed to pull up, but his claws got in the way. He choked the growl that rose in his throat and dropped the can instead of attacking it like the Dark wanted to. He wasn't going to do that anymore. The Dark had ruined everything, but it wasn't going to take the only part of him he had left.

His stomach growled. He looked at the One food and its shiny surface stared mockingly back. Another growl pushed against his teeth. He paced to calm the Dark. It hurt when the Dark didn't win. If he really thought about it, Jack spent most of his time hurting. Why? He could let the Dark win… others had. But they didn't have Small. Small needed Jack to be Jack if the confusing woman and nice man could help to find him. Small… where was he?

Jack realized he had something in his fist. What? He opened his hand. No. What had he done? No, no, no, no, no, no! Small! He frantically tried to smooth the creases out of the photograph. They wouldn't leave. He tried harder, harder… _riiip_. NO!

* * *

Todd woke to the familiar sound of a Hunter's screech. He fumbled for his for his gun and almost wrenched his neck trying to find the source of the sound. There, in the corner, a Hunter was attacking a bookshelf and snarling wildly. His sleep-addled thoughts began to clear. This was the Hunter he'd saved. Maybe Dee was right. Dee…Where was Dee? He leapt to his feet and frantically looked around. She was wrapped in her curtains, staring terrified at the Hunter. Todd quickly got between them with his gun and took aim.

"Stop!" he called to the frenzied Hunter, feeling stupid as the word left his mouth.

The Hunter didn't seem to hear him. It continued to gouge deep claw marks into the bookcase and gut pages out of books with such ferocity that Todd wondered if it had even been capable of rational thought at all.

"Don't make me shoot you!"

He jumped when he heard Dee's firm voice behind him.

"Jack, stop it! What's wrong?"

The Hunter immediately dropped the book that it had been so intently torturing a second ago and backed away from the papery carnage in what looked like dismay. Todd turned to Dee.

"Jack?" he asked, perplexed.

Dee gave him an impatient look that said _Let me take care of this first._ He lowered the gun and stepped aside.

Dee's heart pounded with adrenaline as she got closer to Jack. He seemed to be okay again, but who knew what made him snap? She held out a shaking hand to the Hunter and hoped it wouldn't be ripped off. She felt herself flinch when Jack edged closer to her and saw him immediately back away.

"No, it's okay. Just… what happened?"

Jack cowered as he crossed the room to his curtain nest. He picked up two crumpled pieces of paper and held them up to her.

"You ripped it?" she asked, feeling a tug of pity.

He winced as if the words had physically hurt him. Dee bent to be at eye level with him –it was intimidating how tall he was even when crouched- and held out a still-shaking hand.

"Can I see?"

Jack hesitated for a moment before carefully placing the ripped halves of the picture in her hand. Dee really wished she had a roll of tape at that moment. Maybe they could find one.

"We can fix it," she told Jack, "we just need to find some tape on our way to the safe house. Keep these safe in your wallet, okay?"

Jack hurried to put the pieces into his wallet and shoved it into his pocket with an air of duty.

Dee's eyes wandered to the unopened can of fruit that still sat on Jack's bed.

"You weren't hungry?"

Jack glared at the can and held out his clawed hands helplessly. That feeling of pity tightened around her lungs and she immediately opened the can for him. He gently took it from her and attempted to bite at the syrupy fruit inside, only succeeding to cut his lip on the edge of the can. She saw his muscles suddenly tense and his face contort in anger, but it passed just as quickly as it had come. He was obviously fighting to keep control.

"Try using your fingers," Dee suggested, "that's what I do."

Jack eyed her for a moment and tried it. When the slippery bits of fruit kept falling back into the can before he could get a mouthful, he began skewering them with his claws and transferring them to his mouth. Dee smiled in what she hoped was an encouraging way, though the growly slurping noises he made caused her stomach to writhe.

Todd was stunned. What happened to her wanting to shoot the Hunter? How did things suddenly become so friendly? And… Jack? Where'd _that _come from? He put his gun down and gave Dee his most dumbstruck look. She shrugged and turned her attention back to the Hunter, as he had begun to noisily lick the remaining syrup out of the can. He rubbed his face and thought that maybe he was in the middle of a weird dream. It made about as much sense as anything else that had happened in the last ten minutes.

Jack went to sleep shortly after he had finished polishing the inside of the can with his tongue. Dee sat up in her bed of curtains and fiddled with the tasseled end of the nearest one. She felt Todd watching her, waiting for answers. She sighed and finally looked at him.

"I was stupid. I'm really sorry for how I acted," she frowned, "I was just so scared that you had lost it and I didn't know what to do about it."

Todd stood and shook out the curtains he had been sleeping on. He added them to Dee's bed and sat beside her. He gave her a small smile that made the knot of guilt in her chest loosen slightly.

"It's okay. I understand how it could be scary… I wasn't even sure why I was patching him up." He glanced at the ruined bookshelf. "I'm sort of wondering whether I did the right thing."

Dee looked at the sleeping Hunter thoughtfully.

"You did. Jack's in there, somewhere."

"How did you come up with 'Jack', anyway?"

"He showed me his driver's license. He's got a picture of his son in there, too."

It was Todd's turn to look at the Hunter. Jack evidently remembered things from his past. Todd wondered if that was worse than being turned into a mindless monster. It probably was. No wonder he'd snapped when he'd ripped the photo. That was all the poor guy had.

He looked back at Dee. She was so pale and gaunt. If he wasn't careful, he'd lose her just as Jack had lost his picture. She wouldn't be as possible to mend. He suddenly had the urge to hold her and keep her close, but she looked like she might break if he did. He would settle for holding her hand. Slowly, he reached out and took it, his face burning.

Dee's heart jolted when she felt Todd's hand meet hers. She jerked around to face him.

"What are you-"

His expression silenced her. His grey eyes were so earnest and he was chewing his tongue like he had done so many times before, just like the night when he had almost told her how he felt. Heat rose in her stomach and she closed her hanging mouth before starting again.

"Todd?"

He felt a vice around his vocal chords and tried to swallow it away. Twelve long years he'd wanted to tell her that he wanted her to be his. Twelve long years of rehearsing what he'd say. Twelve long years of chickening out. Now, finally, he'd passed the point of no return. He swallowed again.

"This is going to sound really stupid right now, but…"

He felt his mouth quirk and his back tense. _No_, he shouted in his head, _you can't run now, you idiot! You've given it away already._ He chewed his tongue for a moment and tried again.

"Dee, I've cared about you for a very long time. I know that this is probably the worst time in the world to ask you, but would you maybe consider… uh…"

_Come on, make it sound good!_

"Would you… maybe…uh…want to be my girlfriend?"

_Smooth, Todd, real smooth. What are you, thirteen?_

Her stare wavered. He felt his heart plummet. This was a horrible idea. Why did he try this _now_? He considered taking his hand off of hers, and then she laughed. Or was she crying? Great, he'd made her cry.  
Dee's chest shook and she felt tears stream down her face. Finally. She felt his hand pulling away. No, she wanted that. She grabbed it.

"Yes!" she laughed and sobbed at the same time.

Relief washed over Todd. He pulled her to him and held her, his fingers playing in the short wavy golden hair that he had admired for so long. She felt so fragile and small in his arms; it was nothing at all like he had dreamed it would be. That didn't matter. She had said yes.

Todd's heart thudded against Dee as they embraced. She loved it. She loved how warm he was and how safe his arms felt. She loved how his face felt in her hair. She loved the devotion she felt in how he held her. She was his, the way it had been all along. It was all right, now.

The newness of it all made them keep their distance, but they did not sleep back to back that night.


	6. Giveth and Taketh Away

Chapter 6

Todd woke up cold on his side of the bed. The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Dee, with her wild bed hair and completely peaceful face. He smiled to himself. He'd seen her sleep hundreds of times, but never before did he have the option of kissing that sleeping face. He gently pecked her cheek. It was icy. A faint smile curved her lips and she rolled over. He scooted closer to her and tried to absorb some of her warmth.

He looked around. One of the thin, tall windows was hanging open on its hinge. Beneath it, Jack's nest was empty save for his wallet. Todd carefully got out of bed. The medical kits were missing from the side of their curtain bed as well, but two cans of fruit sat in their place.

"Jack?" he called quietly, so as not to wake Dee.

The floor was silent. Todd looked around the few bookcases that had not been used in the barricades. Jack was definitely gone. Dee stirred.

"Where's Jack?" she mumbled groggily.

"Good question…" Todd muttered.

Dee watched Todd stand thinking for a few moments before she got up. It felt like she was trying to move underwater with stones tied to her ankles. Her arm throbbed angrily beneath its bandages. It was time to change them…

"Todd?"

"Hm?"

"Did you move the medical kits?"

"I think Jack might have taken them."

"What?"

As if in anticipation to her next question, he said, "I don't know why."

He held her and kissed the top of her head. He felt her arms tighten around him and her smile press against his shoulder. It warmed him despite the open window.

"Looks like we're staying here until Jack comes back."

"If he comes back," she grumbled.

"He will. His wallet's here," he said with false confidence, playing with her hair absentmindedly.

Truthfully, he had no idea if Jack would return. They'd only known him for a little over a day. The Hunter could have snapped again, left his wallet, destroyed the medical kits, and thrown them out the window for all Todd knew. Nothing was too strange to consider at this point.

Dee's stomach growled. Todd smiled and pulled gently out of their embrace to get the left over fruit cans. They sat together on their bed, wrapped in a few curtains, and ate their breakfast. Todd made a game of feeding Dee bits of fruit, bringing them close to her mouth and pulling them away just when she was about to take a bite. Eventually, when her face screwed up into that irritated look he loved, he'd give her the morsel. He kept her distracted with the game long enough to feed her the majority of his can of fruit.

_Operation keep Dee fed: accomplished._ He grinned to himself.

When they had finished eating, Dee leaned against Todd. She felt a strange mixture of exhaustion and giddiness. The last few days had been such a rollercoaster. He pulled her closer and she reclined against his shoulder. Despite what her survival instincts insisted, she really hoped that they could stay in the library for a while. It would be nice to keep to their little reprieve of hell and explore this new territory with him, if only for a day or two.

Todd's thoughts had wandered to the strange disappearance of their Hunter companion. If he didn't return soon, they would have to keep moving. They had officially depleted their food supply with that last can of fruit. They had no water. They couldn't even change their bandages. The situation was an ugly one. He fidgeted with a tassel on the end of one of the curtains and turned over the impending journey to the safe house in his mind.

All that was left was perhaps nine blocks of the road that they were on, and then ten or eleven blocks to the east. Mercy Hospital was just an hour's walk away under normal circumstances, but with Infected crawling everywhere it was nearly impossible to get there. What a messed up world they were confined to.

He stole a look at Dee. He watched her green stare focus on some far away thoughts of her own. She had been his partner since the very beginning of the Green Flu. She stayed at his side when the Infected started to mutate. She followed his lead even when he made the stupid decision of taking Jack in. No matter what obstacle this messed up world threw at them, he had her. That was a comforting thought. He held her a little tighter.

Dee curled closer to Todd and wrapped her arms around his chest, careful to avoid his bandages. She felt her eyes starting to close on their own accord. There was no way she'd be able to make it to Mercy Hospital today. Todd didn't look to be in any condition to travel, either. She secretly celebrated the idea, even if that meant going without food or water for one day. They'd done that before. They could survive it again. Her eyes finally closed completely.

Todd jumped when Dee unexpectedly slumped over into his lap. She was breathing lightly and consistently; definitely asleep. He picked her up and laid her down in the curtain bed. She needed the sleep. As he covered her up, his thoughts strayed to lying next to her in his underwear. His heart clenched at the memory and heat flooded his face. He stuck his head out the window into the cold morning air to get a grip.

Whatever amorous thoughts he might have had immediately died when he saw a Tank –probably the one from the day before—stalking down the sidewalk. He quickly ducked back inside in case the hulking thing was somehow capable of looking up. They didn't need to call attention to their hiding spot.

Trouble was, he already had.

* * *

Jack was quite pleased with himself. The confusing woman and nice man would be so happy when they saw what he had found. He scaled the library wall as quickly as he could with his burden and the pain in his shoulder. He sniffed. The people smell was close. The confusing woman and nice man hadn't gone anywhere since he left.

He reached the open window on the third floor. It was hard to fit the bags through the narrow window. He growled at them a few times as he tried to work them through the small space, but finally accomplished it. A familiar smell suddenly washed over him before he could squeeze himself through the window. He heard a growl from somewhere above him. The Dark wanted out. Just this once he'd let it come.

* * *

As soon as Todd had finally decided to amuse himself with one of the books in the leftover bookshelves, some large bags flopped through the window. He moved closer to investigate and was nearly bowled over by two Infected. He scrabbled for his gun and took aim.

* * *

Jack felt hot blood stain his hands and face. The Dark liked that. A joyful cry burst unfettered from his lips and made the blood bubble. The other Hunter screeched and tried to claw at Jack, but he was much smaller and weaker. A sanguine smile twisted Jack's face and he ripped at the other Hunter's throat. Invigorating. His hands flew, digging deep into the Hunter's face, throat, and stomach.

* * *

"Jack," shouted Todd as he aimed for the strange Hunter, "move!"

Jack didn't seem to hear. An insane smile was fixed on his face as he flung viscera around the room. It made Todd's blood run cold. Jack was _enjoying_ this. Todd aimed above Jack's head and fired. The noise broke Jack's trance.

Jack hunched close to the other Hunter at the loud danger sound. The Hunter beneath him wasn't moving anymore. The nice man looked frightened and was still holding the danger thing up like he had when they'd first met. Jack skittered back and crouched against the wall near the window. This was it. He'd ruined everything. He closed his eyes and shielded his face with one arm. If he had to die, he didn't want to see it coming.

Todd lowered the gun.

"Are you okay again?" he asked, still wary.

Jack slowly lowered his arm from in front of his face. He was covered in blood, but he seemed calm. The insane smile was replaced with a wide-eyed look of fear.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I told you that."

Jack looked from the gun back to Todd. Todd put it down and lifted his hands in what he hoped was a mollifying way. Jack slowly crawled to the dead Hunter and dragged it to the window. Carefully, he rolled the torn remains out the window and closed it.

Todd examined the bags. He saw the familiar red material of the medical kits among them. He smiled.

"What'd you bring us?"

Jack's demeanor instantly shifted. He moved excitedly, slashing open the large trash and shopping bags with his claws. He proudly piled the contents of the bags near the curtain bed. There were all sorts of canned foods, sodas, and bottles of water. There were several sets of clothes in mismatched sizes, and the majority of the tops were hoodies, but Todd was happy to see clean clothes. Best yet were the lighters and camping stove.

"Jack, this is amazing. Where did you find all of this?"

Jack made a wide sweeping gesture as if to say, _This stuff is everywhere._ He smiled wider and handed the medical kits to Todd. They were packed with gauze and antibiotics; Todd guessed they were the only medical items Jack had seen them use.

"It's like Christmas in here," Todd laughed, "Jack, you're awesome."

* * *

Dee woke up a couple hours later to the freshly stocked supplies. Jack had saved the day. To her own surprise and Todd's, she hugged Jack. She felt a bit awkward when he sat quietly for a time, visibly shaken by the sudden show of affection. After he got over the initial shock, he opened the one remaining bag that he had brought and gave it to her. It was filled with all types of tape. She laughed.

"Well, we do owe you. Go get it."

He scampered to his wallet and carefully extracted the two halves of the photograph. She was able to mend it rather nicely with some transparent tape. Jack took it back with a harsh ragged breath and put it tenderly back into his wallet. He looked at her and gently placed his hand on one of hers.

"You're welcome," she smiled.

* * *

The three companions spent the next few hours going through the new inventory. Todd estimated that they had enough supplies for at least a week, if they rationed them wisely. That was for the better. They all needed some time to recuperate, and with the new food and water they could last in the library long enough to regain their strength.

Dee had set about heating up a couple cans of beans over the camp stove, and was looking through the new clothes. Hers smelled horrible and were caked with blood. She changed behind a bookcase. The jeans that Jack had picked up were almost exactly her size, but all of the hoodies were far too large for her. She opted for the one t-shirt among the selection. It was large as well, but at least it wouldn't hinder her like overlong sleeves would.

Jack stroked the little picture of Small with one hand while he stabbed at the contents of a can of fruit with the other. This was the most he'd eaten in a long time. He felt something welling inside him when he looked at all of the things he'd found for his friends. It was nice; he felt it choking the Dark. That angered it, but he didn't care. Maybe it would go away if this new nice something got big enough. Small would like that, wouldn't he?

The smell of beans was beginning to fill the third floor. Todd's stomach growled audibly. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a warm meal. This was about to be amazing. Suddenly, the library shook. A roar echoed up the side of the building. Todd's eyes locked with Dee's. He grabbed his gun and she picked up the rifle. Jack leaped across the room and tucked his wallet away before leaping back to the window. His lips pulled back in a snarl.

The vibrations grew stronger and stronger, thudding up the side of the library. Todd trained his AK on the window nearest to Jack's nest. The ugly face of the Tank appeared on the other side of it. The beast's breath made foggy patches on the glass. It roared and spittle splattered. Jack rolled out of the way when the brute pulled back one large fist and punched the window out of its frame.

Todd took aim and shot the Tank in the shoulder just millimeters from its head. It roared and put another hole in the wall with a swing of its massive arm. Todd shot again and deeply scored the Tank's cheek, shattering the teeth on one side of its mouth. It howled in agony and charged through the gap it had made. Jack, Dee, and Todd all ran for the other side of the floor and the Tank followed.

The sound of the camp stove crunching under the Tank's massive fist and the cans of beans rattling across the floor set Todd's teeth on edge. His first hot meal in ages was gone. The hulking bastard was going to suffer for that.


	7. Bad

Chapter 7

The anxiety Todd usually felt when he was up against the Infected was completely overshadowed by a brand of anger that he didn't know he was capable of feeling. They hadn't had a proper meal in ages, let alone a hot one, and now all that remained of it was smeared across the library floor. The camping stove resembled a large, metallic, squashed bug. There probably wouldn't be a chance to get another one. Todd gritted his teeth together so tightly that it hurt, and swung the AK up to put the Tank in his sights.

He shot at the beast's legs and it stumbled with an agonized snarl. The bastard deserved some pain. Todd hated the malicious smile that snaked across his face. It felt far too similar to Jack's when he had torn the other Hunter apart. Todd forced it away and trained his AK's crosshairs on the Tank's too-small skull. He needed to just finish the job and not get carried away.

By the time he had a clear shot, the Tank was already up and roaring. It picked up a bookcase with no effort at all and hurled it in the direction of the trio. Jack lunged to tackle Dee out of the way and Todd dove to safety. Faster than Todd could regain the scope of his gun, Jack launched himself at the angry Infected brute and began tearing away at its shoulder with his claws. Jack moved differently this time. His actions were calculated rather than frenzied. He wasn't aiming to kill, but to distract. Todd took the cue and fired.

The spray of bullets entered the Tank's head and chest, and a bland look of confusion crossed the thing's ruined face. It wobbled slightly before collapsing onto its knees and then falling forward, never to move again. Jack nimbly jumped from the creature's shoulder and made a noise that could have been a relieved laugh. Dee dropped her rifle and looked from the Tank's corpse to their ruined meal.

"At least it's dead," she grumbled as she halfheartedly kicked the Tank's massive shoulder.

She turned to Jack and Todd.

"That was pretty impressive, what you did. You two make a pretty good team."

She smiled at them but couldn't fight the feeling of uselessness. She hadn't done a thing but run and attempt to get out of everyone's way. Jack and Todd were the reason that thing lay in a dark pool of blood in the middle of the room. They were the reason she was still alive. She felt herself stiffen when Todd put an arm around her and pulled her close.

"Stop worrying," he said.

She looked up at him. Was she really that transparent? She opened her mouth to explain, but he spoke first.

"We can always make more beans."

She forced herself not to roll her eyes. Maybe she didn't have to worry about being transparent at all. A slurping sound near her feet drew her attention. Jack was licking the beans off the floor. What was it with men and food?

* * *

It took the three of them quite a while and several breaks to maneuver the Tank's corpse to the hole in the wall that it had come from. The sun was just beginning to set by the time they finally managed to push the Tank out of the gaping opening to the street below. Infected shambled to the corpse and wasted no time in gorging themselves. The Hunter from that morning had already been picked apart. Shreds of his clothes were scattered all over the street. The immorality of cannibalism didn't seem to be too much of a concern to them.

The scene made Dee a little squeamish. She went to distract herself with her diary, but she couldn't find it anywhere. She emptied both medical kits and found nothing but gauze. It wasn't among the curtains that made their bed. It hadn't been tossed anywhere in the struggle with the Tank. She wanted to ask Todd if he had seen it, but he had gone to explore the next floor up to see if there was a way to get to the neighboring building without alerting the Infected. The holes in the building were starting to worry him. Instead she found Jack, who was still enjoying what was left of the beans, and tapped him on the shoulder.

Jack looked up from his food. The confusing woman looked upset. He touched one of her hands, careful not to let his claws meet her skin. She asked about a Die-ree. That word sounded familiar. What had it meant when things were normal? He scratched his chin and tried to bring back the memory. It wouldn't come. He shrugged at her and she sighed a sigh that sounded a little like the Dark. He felt like he needed to get away from her, but she kept asking about the Die-ree. She finally walked away and Jack thought that perhaps he could go back to his food.

She came back with a book. He moved away from her. What had he done to make her mad now? Last time it was because the nice man was trying to make him feel better. The book looked like it would hurt. He covered his head with his arms.

Dee felt a twinge of guilt when Jack reacted so fearfully to the book. She set it on the ground.

"I'm not going to hit you with it. I just want to know if you saw one of these in the bags that you took."

She couldn't keep that last little hint of irritation out of her voice. All she wanted was her diary. Was that too much to ask?

Jack looked up at the confusing woman. The Die-ree was a book that stayed in a bag? He thought back. Yes. He'd seen one before, when he was finding all of the nice things for his friends. He had taken it out of the bag and put it in the large pocket on the front of his clothes so there would be more room for the nice things. He fished it out and held it up for the confusing woman to see. There. Now she'd be happy, and he could eat his food.

Dee's heart plummeted. The front cover of her diary was tattered and smeared with blood. About a third of its pages were torn and mangled. She'd kept that diary since the beginning of the Green Flu. All of her thoughts were there to reflect on and draw strength from, or they had been. She snatched the diary away from Jack and felt hot tears sting the corners of her eyes.

"What have you done?" she hissed.

Jack didn't understand. He had given her the Die-ree. What had he done wrong? He cowered against a bookcase and it fell with a loud bang that made him jump. He held out his hands and tried to show her how sorry he was for whatever he had done. She didn't seem to care. Her face looked like the Dark. That scared him. He had to get away from the Dark. Small needed him to stay away from it. He tensed his legs and sprang over the confusing woman's head. He quickly scaled the wall and stayed where she couldn't reach him.

Dee held the diary to her chest and stalked over to the wall that Jack clung to. She didn't know why, but she wanted to make him feel guilty for the demise of her poor book. She held the book out and glared up at him.

"You know that picture you love so much? That's what _this_ is to me!" she shoved the book toward him and he flattened himself against the wall, "You ripped up my picture, Jack! How could you do that?"

Jack whimpered. He'd hurt her Small and he didn't even know it. He was bad. He was so bad that he didn't need the Dark to make him bad. That hurt him very much. He crawled further up the wall and squeezed his eyes shut. Maybe if he tried hard enough, he could disappear. He became aware of a cold sensation. He looked around. There was the hole in the wall. Yes. Good. Jack threw himself out of the hole in the wall and gripped a window ledge further down the building.

* * *

He was too bad to stay there. He would have to go away where he could never hurt anybody. Where was that? He scrambled across the wall and went around the corner of the building so he could leap to the next one. A loud clang drew his attention.

Todd had managed to find the fire escape, which had been too high up for him to see when they first came to the library, and swing the ladder to a window ledge of the apartment complex next door. The ladder had been bent at some point before he had found it, probably by a Tank. For once, they had a stroke of luck. He heard the familiar scrape and click of claws against the wall of one of the buildings. He looked around and spotted a hunched silhouette. Great, as if he hadn't encountered enough mutated Infected today. He unslung his trusty AK from his shoulder and took aim. The Hunter stopped and retreated with a whimper. Todd lowered his gun slightly.

"Jack?"

The Hunter moved closer and carefully freed one hand from the wall to extend it to Todd. That was definitely Jack.

"What are you doing out here? Is Dee okay?" he suddenly felt his heart clench.

Jack leapt from the wall of the apartment and joined Todd on the fire escape. He reached up and put a hand on Todd's shoulder.

"She's okay, right?"

Jack patted his shoulder reassuringly.

"Good. What are you doing out here?"

Jack thought about how to answer that. It was hard to make the nice man and confusing woman understand him. After a few moments, he got the idea to form a book shape with his hands. The nice man seemed to understand. Then Jack clawed the air. The nice man made an unhappy noise. Jack felt his throat get tight. The nice man knew how bad Jack was. Maybe he'd let him just run away. He was the _nice_ man, right? Jack waited to see what he would do.

Todd sighed. This was just what everyone needed after everything that had happened already. Dee was having a hard enough time coping with the past few days, and now she'd probably yelled at Jack and scared him. Wonderful. Todd put a hand on Jack's good shoulder. He felt the Hunter tense.

"Come on, let's get back to Dee. We're going to need your help to move to that building," he nodded to the apartment complex.

Jack scooted away from Todd. Todd squeezed his friend's shoulder.

"She'll cool down. Trust me, she just needs time to think. That's how it always works."

The Hunter edged further away and suddenly clawed his own chest. He slapped his knees agitatedly and shook his head violently.

Jack didn't know how to make the nice man understand. He was _bad_. He was _dangerous_. Why wouldn't he see?

It looked like Jack was losing it again. Todd gripped his gun, but kept it at his side.

"Jack, stop! Why are you doing this? You made a mistake! That's all it was. A mistake! Calm down! Don't feel bad…"

Jack stopped abruptly and looked at Todd. He pointed a clawed finger at him.

"What?"

Jack jabbed at Todd with his finger.

"Don't feel bad?"

Jack gesticulated wildly.

"I don't get it. What are you trying to tell me?"

Jack growled. It wasn't a growl like when he was in one of his fits. It was frustration. Todd tried again.

"I'll say it again. Don't feel bad."

Jack slapped his knees.

"Don't?"

Jack didn't respond. He just clutched his knees.

"Feel?"

Still no response.

"Bad?"

Jack pointed at Todd and shrieked. He then pointed to himself.

"You're bad?"

Jack whimpered and shrank back against the railing of the fire escape. Todd felt his heart wrench for the poor guy.

"You aren't bad, Jack. You didn't do anything wrong, you got that? Dee's diary probably got torn up when you saved us from that Hunter. You did a _good _thing. She's just upset because she loved that diary. She'll be okay."

Todd saw Jack's hand grip the wallet in his pocket.

"You're a good man, Jack."

Jack wasn't sure that the nice man was right. It felt like what he was saying made sense, but Jack couldn't be sure. Maybe he wasn't as bad as he thought, but the Dark was still in him. Didn't that still make him bad? It was all so confusing. The nice man went back inside the building. Jack hesitantly followed.

* * *

AN: First of all, thank you everyone for your views, follows, favorites, and reviews! They really keep me going. Secondly, I apologize for the comparative shortness of this chapter. My midterms this quarter are gluttons for my time.

I do hope you all have a lovely day/evening/whatever point you read this chapter, and if you're out on the U.S east coast my prayers are with you! Stay safe.


	8. Things Fall Apart

Chapter 8

Moving all of the supplies to the fire escape was the easy part. Well, as easy as it could be with two of the movers abjectly refusing to look at one another. The hard part would be conveying everything across the bent ladder that linked the library to the apartment building. Todd decided to cross to the apartments first, so he could take down anything that might be hiding in the darkened rooms.

For its terrible shape, the ladder held pretty well. Todd made it to the shattered window next door and slipped inside. He swept the room with a flashlight he'd salvaged from the last safe house and picked off one lone Infected standing in a corner. He hated when they did that. It was damn creepy.

Todd made his way into the next room and dispatched a few more Infected. This place wasn't looking as secure as he had hoped. He'd only gone from an apartment bedroom to the kitchen and encountered half a dozen Infected. How many more were hiding in the complex? He tried the next apartment over, and the next. Things were looking grim. He tried one more apartment.

The door had been smashed in, but that wasn't something a barricade couldn't fix. He cautiously entered and scanned the place. It was a goldmine. From the looks of the posters and guns that decorated the walls, whoever had lived there was a fan of the military and either was or had attempted to be a survivalist. The windows were already boarded up. There was a cache of ammo stacked neatly in one corner. The apartment looked promising.

Todd took one last look at the door to be sure he hadn't been followed, and moved into the bedroom. No Infected to be seen. He checked the bathroom and his heart stopped. An older man sat in the bathtub, covered in blood. He was breathing weakly. Todd gripped his gun.

"Sir?"

The man's head lolled to one side so he could look up at Todd. He mouthed something that Todd didn't catch.

"Sir, let me help you… I have a medical kit. We can try to stitch you up-"

"NO", roared the man in a strangely grating and undulating voice that was far too strong for how weak he looked.

Todd staggered back in surprise. The older man's face twitched and he feebly lunged forward against the wall of the tub. Todd saw blood running in rivulets down the man's arms from deep gashes stretching from his wrists to the crooks of his elbows. He noticed the bloodied hunting knife as it clattered to the floor of the tub. He felt his heart kick into a higher gear.

The old man suddenly convulsed and slumped over. Blood from his wounds ran down the side of the tub and pooled on the floor. Todd let himself fall back against the wall and attempted to pull himself together. He'd never witnessed a suicide before. Just when he started to think that his legs might give way, the old man's head snapped back up and a gurgle escaped his grey lips. His eyes were frighteningly pale. Without having a moment to think, Todd fired into the old man's head. He slumped back down into the tub, his forehead a mangled patch of viscera. Todd ran.

* * *

Dee's stomach tightened when she saw Todd's pale face as he clambered across the ladder. She'd only seen him like this once before, and that was when he had accidentally hit a dog with his car. She had wanted to hold him to her then. She had that option now. Once she had managed to guide his shaking form into the library, she pulled him close and held him.

"What happened?"

He didn't respond. He buried his face in her hair instead and squeezed her so tightly she thought her ribs might break. They stayed that way for what seemed like hours. Jack gibbered from the fire escape, but she ignored him.

Finally, Todd lifted his head and said, "Let's get moved in."

* * *

Thanks to Jack and his ability to leap across the divide between the buildings with armfuls of supplies, transporting everything from the library and into the apartment went quickly. Todd still felt like his legs were made of lead, and he knew his whole body trembled, but he had to keep his head in the game. They had to keep moving, and he was the only one who knew where their next shelter was.

Dee didn't like how badly Todd was shivering. She wrapped one of the library curtains around him like a robe on the off chance that it would help. A ghost of a smile flitted across his grey face at the gesture. That was a little better, anyway. She kissed his cheek and he ran one hand through her hair. He felt so far away, but there was nothing Dee could do. It was time to get to work.

Between the three of them, they managed to tie the supplies into three large bundles using the curtains. A couple straggling Infected got in their way, but Todd took care of them despite losing a few stray bullets with his shaky hands. It wasn't long before they reached the old man's apartment. Todd forced himself to go in. He took Jack aside.

"Jack, there is a dead body in the bathroom," he said quietly, "could you please take it out to the hallway?"

Jack straightened his shoulders purposefully and scampered to the bathroom.

* * *

Jack could smell the blood before he saw it. He felt a little guilty when his stomach grumbled at the scent. He went into the room with the blood and saw the dead man. The dead man's body smelled wrong. It smelled bad and dangerous, like Jack. He didn't like that smell. He quickly grabbed the dead man by the shirt and pulled him out of the bathtub. The dead man's hand flopped palm up, showing a big gash on his arm. Jack checked the other arm. It was the same. He choked the roar that wanted to leave his chest. He pushed away the Dark that was closing in. He cried instead. He remembered now.

* * *

Dee barely glimpsed Jack when he leapt into the room, threw the body out the door, and retreated back through the bedroom. She looked at Todd, who was organizing a pile of ammunition that had been stacked in one corner of the apartment.

"What was that?"

Todd didn't look up.

"He was here when I first got here."

"Jack?"

"No, the body he threw into the hall."

Dee saw Todd shudder at the word "body". It was about time he told her what was going on.

"Todd, what's bothering you?"

"I don't feel like talking about it."

"It's really bothering you, though. Maybe if you told me-"

"Please just drop it, Dee," he said with a quiet sharpness that usually signaled an argument brewing.

Dee dropped it, stung by his tone. She left him to his thoughts and started to put the food away in the kitchen cabinets. The only thing separating the kitchen and the living room was a small section of counter top and some stools. It didn't provide a very good shelter against the tension radiating from Todd. She tried to ignore it, but couldn't.

Todd tried to think of anything other than the gashes he had seen on the old man's arms and the hunting knife that still probably lay in the blood at the bottom of the tub. He was painfully aware that he had pushed Dee away, but she could handle it. At least, he hoped she could. He needed the time to think and pull himself together. Surely she could understand that…Right?

He heard her drop a can of something and suck in a breath. That wasn't like her. Normally, she'd mutter at the can and get back to what she was doing. He looked up from the collection of ammunition boxes. He could only see her back, but she quivered in what were probably quiet sobs. Great. What a perfect end to such a perfect day.

Dee tried to make the tears stop. She was being overly sensitive. Todd needed his space, and it wasn't like he'd yelled at her or fought with her, so what was she such a blubbering mess about? She picked up a can of tuna and put it in the cabinet and felt a new wave of tears build up. She just wanted to be able to comfort him. That's what it was. She just wanted help him through, like they'd done for each other for as long as she could remember. It hurt that he wouldn't let her in; she was his girlfriend now, after all. She stifled a sob that threatened to give her away and put another can in the cabinet.

Todd felt fresh pangs of guilt on top of the convoluted mess of emotions writhing in his mind. He'd let a man kill himself, and then shot that same man. What if the old man had the capacity to think like Jack did? Now he'd never have the chance to try. Todd had that on his hands, now. Jack and Dee weren't talking to each other, and the tension was getting to him. Oh, and on top of it all, he'd made Dee, his best friend in the whole world and person he cherished the most, cry. He ground the heels of his hands into his eyes tiredly. He knew he could make at least part of that right again. Why couldn't he just stand up, hug her, and apologize like a rational person?

* * *

Jack sat in the corner of the bedroom with his knees hugged to his chest. His tears had driven ruts in the blood and grime on his face. His ragged breaths shuddered in his lungs as he stared blankly into something that nobody else could see. The view was terrifying.

* * *

AN: And so ends another woefully short chapter. Hopefully I'll break that streak soon. Thanks again to everyone who has taken the time to read this fanfic, and everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited. It really means the world to me that you think so much of this story! I hope you all had a lovely Halloween.

P.S. Stay tuned. Things are about to get painful.


	9. Into the Darkness

Chapter 9

Jack woke suddenly. The Dark was stifling. He looked around. He'd fallen asleep in his hiding spot. He saw the nice man and confusing woman sleeping on opposite ends of the bed in the same room. Dark was coming from them, too. Dark was coming from everywhere. He wanted to get out but there was no way. All of the windows and doors were blocked. He crept to the blood room, closed the door as quietly as he could, and rubbed his hands against the walls until a light came on.

He felt like the nice part of him that he'd discovered earlier that day had gone away and left nothing behind. The Dark was angry and strong. It wanted Jack to leave. It wanted him to leave forever and let it take over. He plucked at one of his sleeves with his claws, unsure of what to do next. He looked around the room aimlessly.

There was a big square of something on the wall. A Hunter looked back at Jack from inside of it. He didn't look dangerous, just sad. Sad and Dark. Jack felt bad for the Hunter. He reached out a hand, just to let him know that things would be okay. The Hunter reached out a hand, too. He understood Jack. Jack felt a new warmth spread on his face and a little spark of nice heat his insides. The other Hunter showed his bloody teeth in a smile. Their hands were almost touching. Excitement filled Jack. He shuffled forward.

His hand met something solid and cold. The other Hunter's smile went away. What was happening? He pushed against the cold hard thing, but he couldn't get through it. The other Hunter tried to help, but he couldn't get out. Jack took a few steps back and the other Hunter followed his lead. They had the same idea. Jack would break him out of his prison. He smiled a little. This new friend understood completely. Finally, someone understood!

He backed up to the wall and charged at the cold hard thing that kept him from his friend. He hit it hard with his good shoulder. It broke loudly. Jack leapt back to let his friend through. When he looked up, his friend was gone. The prison was gone. It was in little broken pieces on the floor. He looked down at the pieces. His friend frowned up at him, broken like the prison.

No. His breath shuddered. No, please. He felt warm sadness come from his eyes. I hurt him, too. He's gone, too. Just like everything else! Jack pounded a fist against the floor until it bled. The Dark stabbed at his insides. Maybe the Dark would go away if he could feel another pain.

* * *

Dee woke up to a loud thumping noise punctuated by muffled screeches. Her arm throbbed angrily when she rolled onto it. She looked around in the dark, and saw that Jack was gone from the corner he had been sleeping in. Todd was still curled up in his typical cocoon. She slipped out from under the covers. The bathroom door was closed and light peeked through the space between the door and the floor. Something warm and wet met her foot when she went to open the door.

She yanked the door open. Inside was Jack, curled into a pitiful bleeding ball and sobbing. Broken glass was scattered all over the tile.

"Jack, what happened?"

Her voice was sharper than perhaps it should have been. Jack didn't move, but whimpered softly and curled deeper into a ball. His blood soaked hoodie smeared crimson on the tan tile. She tried to roll him over so she could see where the blood was coming from, but he refused to budge.

Jack had found new pain, and the Dark liked it very much. He couldn't escape. There was nowhere to run. The Dark was everywhere. There was a familiar voice and a gentle hand pushing on him. The confusing woman was there; that was the last thing he wanted. She'd found him. She'd know what he did. He scooted away from her awkwardly, sitting up and doing his best to keep his back to her. Blood poured down his face. The Dark wanted him to taste it. He didn't.

"Jack, please. I want to help you. Let me see what's wrong."

Dee watched his hunched form shudder. One clawed hand went up to his face and came away soaked in blood. A small keening sound came from her Hunter friend. She touched his arm. To her surprise, he leaned into her hand and slowly turned. Before he showed her his face, he put a hand on her wrist and squeezed gently.

Dee stifled a scream when Jack finally turned around. One of his eyes was completely missing and blood flowed heavily from its socket. The other eye, which was still intact, refused to look at her. She shot to her feet.

"Stay here. I'll get a medical kit and be right back."

She dashed to the living room and snatched up the first medical kit she saw. On the way back to the bathroom, she jerked the covers off of Todd. He swore groggily and bolted upright.

"Come on."

* * *

Todd was not at all prepared for what he saw when he stepped into the bathroom. Shattered glass, a partially blinded Jack, blood all over the floor… He surreptitiously bit the inside of his cheek to be sure he hadn't fazed into a nightmare. Nope. He was awake. He really wished he wasn't.

"What did this?" he asked Jack as Dee attempted to wind bandages around the Hunter's head.

Jack looked away and slowly put a hand on his own chest. Todd grimaced.

"You did it to yourself. Why?"

Jack sighed. How to explain all of this? He held his head with one hand for a moment. Everything hurt. He pulled his wallet from his pocket and took out his picture. It felt like something inside of him finally broke. He leaned forward and let all of the sadness and Dark out.

Dee's heart broke at the sound of Jack's scream. It was so full of agony at first, and as it tapered off, the agony became sobs of hopelessness. What had broken him? She put a hand on his quaking shoulder. He cried harder.

Todd knelt in front of Jack.

"Your picture?"

Jack slowly and shakily lifted his head to look at Todd. He dipped his fingers in the blood on the floor. He hated to do it. He really, really hated to do it… but they wouldn't understand otherwise. He smeared blood on his son's smiling face. That hurt the worst. Why did he have to remember?

Todd's blood ran cold.

"Your son… he's dead?

Jack shrieked at the words and Todd had to restrain him when he attempted to pick up a piece of glass.

"Wait, wait. Stop. We need to know what happened so we can help. How do you know that he… passed?"

Jack snarled through his tears and ripped down one of his sleeves. He held out the underside of his arm, revealing a puckered scar that stretched from wrist to elbow.

Todd swallowed the bile that rose in his throat at the thought of the old man from earlier, "You saw him and it reminded you."

Dee looked at Todd.

"Saw what?"

Todd rubbed his eyes and pushed his hair back with a shaking hand.

"The old man that I had Jack get rid of wasn't dead when I got here, but he almost was. He'd cut his arms so he could bleed to death."

It all started to make sense. No wonder Todd had been so shaken up. He looked pale just remembering it.

Jack wiped his fingers on his pants as he sobbed through gritted teeth, and attempted to get the blood off of his son's face. Small… no, Wesley. Wesley was his name, he remembered now. Wesley's face. He didn't want to think about how that face looked when all of it had ended.

Dee put a hand on Jack's knee.

"I'm sorry, Jack."

Jack lightly touched her hand before putting the photo back in his wallet.

* * *

Jack eventually fell asleep just before the sun began to rise. Todd and Dee tried to sleep, but failed. Finally, Dee got up and went to the kitchen for a soda. The caffeine soothed her nerves a little and eased her exhaustion, but she really only drank the soda to give her something to do. The tension was still thick in the air between her and Todd and she didn't quite understand why.

It wasn't like Todd to hide something so traumatic from her. She hated to admit it, but it seemed like everything shifted when he asked her to be his girlfriend. Maybe they were better off just being friends. At least he had talked to her then. She wasn't sure she was ready to face that idea. She finally had what she had been aching for since middle school, and now it was stealing away the parts of Todd that she used to know so well.

Her stomach soured. She poured the rest of her soda into the sink and put the can on the counter. She fiddled with the knobs on the kitchen faucet absentmindedly. She was surprised by a strong stream of water. It was cold, but it was running. She splashed some of it on her tired face.

Todd watched Dee from the doorway. He didn't know why he wouldn't just talk to her about the old man. Maybe it would help. Originally, his plan was to protect her from what he had seen, but that wasn't really working, was it? All he had seemed to do was cause a rift between them and stress Dee out even more than she already had been.

Things were so easy when they weren't romantically involved. He felt so comfortable around her, like he could tell her anything… well, almost anything. Now he was treating her like a stranger all for the sake of keeping her "safe". That would have to stop. If he wanted their relationship to work, he'd have to try a different way of responding to her. He loved her. He didn't want to lose what they'd finally found together.

He took a breath, chewed on his tongue a little, and made himself go to the kitchen despite the pounding of his heart. Dee didn't seem to hear him over the running faucet as she scrubbed away at whatever skin wasn't covered with clothes. He came up behind her and began rinsing her arms with handfuls of water. She looked back at him in surprise.

"Can we start over?" he asked.

Dee was quiet for a gut-tightening minute. Her expression worried him. Finally, she spoke.

"I was really thinking hard about this, Todd," she said quietly, "and I didn't want to admit it, but maybe we were better off just being friends. I don't think this is working out. Maybe it isn't the right time…"

Todd rested his hands on Dee's. He didn't want to let her go. If anyone could make a life together work, it would be Dee and him. They just needed to give it a chance. He pulled her close to him and her back stiffened uncomfortably against him. He ignored it and rested his head on her shoulder.

"Can't we be friends _and_ lovers?" he asked, "We've been able to survive more than most married couples do, just as friends. That's something. We make a good team, Dee. I'm sorry about before. I just… I guess I wanted to protect you from what I saw."

She pulled out of his embrace and twisted to face him.

"I'd rather you talk to me, like we used to. If we're going to make this work we're going to have to stop treating each other like strangers."

"I know," he reached out and turned off the faucet, "I'm going to try."

Dee watched his face for a moment. There was no way she could say no to the earnest plea in his grey eyes.

"Then I'll try, too."

They held each other for a long time, and for a while, nothing existed but them. Eventually, they both went back to bed. Todd slowly inched his way closer to Dee while they tried to get to sleep, but was only brave enough to rest one hand on her waist. She firmly placed one hand on top of his and they both slipped slowly into slumber.

* * *

Wesley was crying again. It had been a rough few days since the boy had caught the flu. Jack rolled over and clamped a pillow over his ears. Sheryl's side of the bed was cold. He guessed that she'd been up for a while with Wesley. She was such a saint, being willing to care for their son even though she was sick, too.

He needed to sleep before he went out to train the next day. There was a competition in Aspen that he couldn't afford to miss. His sponsors were counting on him. He only had a week to be in top condition. Being a professional snowboarder wasn't easy, especially when Jack should have been retired five years ago. He was ancient compared to most of the new competition. His sponsors loved him, though; he was the best out there. He reached for the bedside table and tried to plug his ears with tissues.

They worked for a while, but then Wesley's crying changed. It was panicked, now. Jack could faintly hear his son screaming, "Mommy! Stop! Mommy, you're hurting me!"

Jack struggled to free himself from the covers. Within fractions of a second, there were no more words, only screaming. And then silence. He jumped out of bed and ran as fast as he could down the hall to his son's room. Sheryl stood over their son's bed, her head cocked strangely. Jack could see blood splattered up the walls and Wesley… oh, dear God.

Sheryl slowly turned to face her husband. She was deathly pale, even in the shadows of Wesley's nightlight. Blood was smeared across her face and up her arms. Wesley's blood. Her own son's blood. She stared hungrily at Jack and a low growl rose in her throat. Those eyes… they weren't hers. He backed away quickly, his mind racing. That wasn't his wife. This couldn't be real.

She lunged at him with bared teeth. He dodged and sprinted for their bedroom. He kept a pistol in the drawer of his nightstand. He had barely cocked it when Sheryl barreled through the door. She snarled at him.

"What have you done?" he screamed at her, "You _killed_ Wesley! Sheryl, you killed our son!"

She roared and threw herself at him, clawing the air in a frenzy. She bit deeply into his arm. He cried out and squeezed the trigger before he had time to think. The shot sent Sheryl flying backward and she collapsed in a motionless heap. Jack let the gun fall to the floor. He stumbled backward against the bed. Dark blood pooled under the corpse of his wife.

The next several hours were a muddled mess of mourning, disbelief, and horror. What he remembered clearly was avoiding Wesley's room completely and putting the barrel of the pistol in his mouth. He couldn't pull the trigger. He went to the kitchen and got a knife, instead. The plan was that he would go to the bathroom, sit in the tub, slit his wrist, and drift to sleep as he bled out.

He did just that. And as the world around him faded away to black, he thought he heard his son calling to him.


	10. Momentarily Out of the Frying Pan

Chapter 10

(Author's Note: The beginning of this chapter is a slightly more mature than the others, but probably nothing you haven't seen in PG-13 movies. Just so you know.)

Todd's lips were in Dee's hair when she woke up later that afternoon. Her heart picked up speed when she realized that he was cuddled up against her, one arm draped over her body and the other trapped beneath her. She didn't dare move. She had wanted this for so long. A deep familiar heat warmed her insides and she shivered happily. Her eyes roved the room as she explored the sensation of his body against hers.

Jack was still asleep in his corner of the room. Blood had matted some of his hair to his face and dribbled onto the floor, but it appeared to have dried a long while ago. His wallet was clutched in one of his hands. Dee's heart stung for the poor man.

Todd's hand involuntarily twitched and drew her attention back to him. The arm sandwiched between her and the mattress was starting to become painful. She shifted in an effort to get comfortable and he stirred. Something prodded the back of her thigh. Oh. Wow. Heat flooded her face and she carefully edged away toward the end of the mattress. She wasn't quite ready to encounter that… especially with Todd unaware of everything. She was almost able to swing one leg off the side of the bed when Todd muttered something incoherent and pulled her back to him. It poked her again. She squirmed uneasily and broke free of his grip.

He jolted awake and looked around wildly. His eyes fell on Dee and focused. She looked… a little off. He pushed back the covers and leaned up on an elbow.

" R'you okay?" he asked, his words a bit slurred.

She blushed brightly and pushed a strand of mussed up hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, I'm alright," she replied in what she hoped was a convincing manner.

_Don't look, don't look, don't look…_ Her mind commanded. She looked everywhere but at Todd. He touched her back.

"C'mon, I know something's wrong. What happened?"

She turned to face him and her gaze was drawn to his pants. She quickly forced herself to look back at his face. He blinked at her and then realization dawned. Blood surged to his cheeks and ears and he straightened up.

"I'm just going to…" he trailed off, mouthing wordlessly and gesturing lamely toward the bathroom.

He hurriedly kicked the covers away and disappeared behind the bathroom door. Dee drew her knees up to her chest and bit her lip hard to stop from giggling. He really was adorable, especially when he was at his most awkward. She felt inexplicably giddy and it was becoming more and more difficult to hold back the giggles that wanted to erupt. So as not to embarrass him, she went to the kitchen and allowed herself to laugh a little.

Todd didn't want to leave the bathroom. He didn't want to face Dee. The problem was resolved, but the awkwardness was already there. He swiped some broken glass out of the way with a foot and turned the sink faucet. He splashed water on his face several times, grateful that he didn't have his reflection to answer to. He blotted the water away with his shirt. What else could he do to kill time? He looked around the ruined bathroom. A soft noise from outside the door distracted him. It was pretty, musical. He pressed an ear against the door.

Was that Dee? Singing? He'd never known her to sing. He opened the door a crack. Yes. Dee was singing to herself. Her voice was so fragile and happy that he couldn't help but smile, himself. He crept to the bedroom door to hear her better.

"I imagine me and you, I do. I think about you day and night, it's only right to think about the boy you love and hold him tight. So happy together," she lilted, altering the classic song as she deemed fit.

Todd's smile widened. The song brought back memories of riding with Dee and her dad on the way home from school with an oldies station on the radio. Dee always tapped her fingers to that song. He followed the sound of her voice as quietly as he could and peeked into the kitchen. She was dancing around as she sang, opening cupboards and pulling out plates. She already had a pot of beans cooking on the stove, which was surprisingly still functional.

He enjoyed the spectacle for a little while. It had been days since he'd seen a genuinely happy Dee. Why ruin it? Suddenly, she stopped in her giddy song.

"How long have you been there?" she asked with her back still toward him.

"Long enough," he chuckled and walked up to her to kiss her on the back of her neck.

She turned and glowered at him playfully.

"Long enough, huh? I could say the same of you."

His mouth quirked and he chewed his tongue.

"Dee, I'm really sorry. I didn't-"

She put a finger on his lips and grinned at him.

"Don't you dare apologize."

Jack smelled a good smell and his stomach grumbled. He pried himself off of the floor and scampered where his nose led him. What he saw scared him. The nice man was eating the confusing woman's face! He screeched and leapt at the pair, careful to get in between them. He snarled viciously at the nice man and sniffed. He didn't _smell_ dangerous. The nice man held up his hands the way that he would usually do. What was going on?

Todd tried to edge his way around Jack, but Jack snarled and mirrored him. What had gotten into the Hunter? He didn't _look_ like he was having one of his fits.

"Jack? Are you okay?"

The Hunter sat between them, looking bewildered. Dee put a hand on his shoulder.

"He wasn't hurting me. It's okay."

Jack looked from Dee to Todd and back again. He gestured toward Todd uncertainly and put a hand on Dee's foot. She smiled and stepped around Jack so she could plant a kiss on Todd's lips.

"Just kissing, see? He didn't do anything wrong."

_Kissing_. What they were doing was familiar, but he didn't know why. The confusing woman had done that to him before… it had scared him. The Dark didn't like it. It was too close. Close things bit you. Close things hurt you. Why were they kissing each other? Didn't they know it would hurt? But they wanted to do it. Should he let them? He didn't know.

What he did know was that there was a food smell very close by and he was hungry. He sniffed at the pile of food in the round thing, hoping either the nice man or confusing woman would notice. When they didn't, he made a small sad sound. That worked.

Halfway through their meal of beans, canned fruit, and spam, they heard a knock on the wall, since they had barricaded the entire door frame. Dee looked through a gap in the barricade, but it was too dark in the hallway to see anything. Todd retrieved his AK from the neatly stacked ammo supply and went to the door.

"Hello?" he asked, purposely making his voice deeper and gruffer than it was.

No answer. Dee pushed a large box that made up part of the barricade aside. Suddenly, a long tongue-like appendage shot through the gap and wrapped around Todd's ankle. Greenish smoke poured into the room as the appendage yanked Todd off of his feet and tried to pull him through the small gap. The AK clattered across the floor. Without time to think, Dee grabbed the gun and shot. A muffled roar echoed on the other side of the barricade and the tongue loosened.

Dee stood over Todd, aimed into the hall and shot again. The Smoker fell in a heap and thick smoke blinded her. Todd yanked his foot out of the way and Dee slammed the box back into place. Her arm throbbed terribly. Worse, though, was the realization that they had almost been caught in a very intelligent trap.

(Author's Note… Again: I apologize for the hiatus and the shamefully short chapter. However, you'll just have to bear with me because I just finished finals and this is the first thing that I've done with my winter break. I really do intend to stop slacking… eventually.)


	11. No

Chapter 11

What joy that had been rekindled that afternoon dissipated very quickly over the next few hours. Knocks at the wall grew more and more frequent until it was a chorus of bangings and scratchings. Todd and Jack reinforced the barricade with several larger pieces of furniture, but that didn't stop a few rotting hands and arms from breaking through the gaps and groping blindly for the survivors within. The air was thick with anxiousness and the stale odor of the dead Smoker. Todd pulled Dee to him and rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Jack isn't the only intelligent one," she muttered hopelessly into his shirt, "we're screwed."

"Royally," Todd agreed, "but we've gotten out of tough spots before. We just have to be smarter than they are. I think we can do that."

Dee pulled away to look up at him. She searched his grey eyes for fear and saw none. She buried her face in the comforting warmth of his chest again and tightened her arms around him. His firm squeeze was comforting and encouraging. Maybe they'd make it, like he said. Maybe what they had together could be enough to survive. Maybe.

Todd loosened his grip, draped one arm around Dee's waist, and cupped the back of her head with the other hand. He had become an expert at making false confidence look and sound convincing. There was a fair amount of guilt that came with it, but he needed to stay strong for her. He stroked her hair and let himself feel the warmth of her body against his. He needed that. He needed her.

Jack picked up an empty can and hurled it at the groping dangerous hands. The Dark was pressing on all sides of his head. His broken eye hurt. Why did he have to hurt so much? He snarled at the pain and slapped his hands against the floor. It had hurt less when he didn't remember. But did he really want to forget Wesley and Sheryl? The Dark stabbed the inside of his head. Maybe he did.

He looked at the mark on his arm. He should have died. He _wanted_ to, back then. But now… He looked up at the confusing woman and nice man. They were his now. He felt that nice feeling when he thought about them. He had to stay for them. He didn't save Wesley that night, but he could save his two people now. That made the Dark angry, but he didn't care. He had things to do.

Todd jumped when Jack screeched and leapt at the barricade. He pulled Dee off of him and pushed her behind him. The Hunter was clawing and biting at the rotting hands that stuck through the gaps. Jack was on the attack, sure enough, but he was still in control. He screeched through one of the holes at the Infected on the other side. Another Hunter's call responded. This seemed to agitate Jack. He suddenly began tearing at the barricade to widen the gaps. Todd took a tentative step closer.

Jack was having a hard time making the Dark stay away. He'd told them all on the other side that the people were his, but one Hunter disagreed. The Dark wanted him to attack. It wanted blood. For the first time in a while, so did Jack. He wanted it very much. He wanted all of them dead for thinking they could take away his people. That scared him.

Jack abruptly stopped and turned to face Dee and Todd. He snarled once more at the Infected on the other side of the barricade before climbing down and shuffling over to them. He seemed unsure and awkward in his movements, as if he didn't know what to do with himself. Dee sat next to him and put a comforting hand on his. She really wished they could speak to each other. How much easier that would be.

Jack looked at the confusing woman with the eye that still saw. She looked sad for him. He didn't like that. That's all his people seemed to do. He slowly pulled his hand away and patted her shoe. He ducked deeper into his hood. He was safe from her sadness there. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his back. He looked up. It was the nice man.

There was something in the nice man's face. It wasn't sadness, like the confusing woman's looks. It was something nice that he couldn't place. He'd seen that something before… or had he felt it? It was warm and friendly. It was safe. It was like having a friend but stronger, somehow.

"How's your shoulder?" he asked.

Jack frowned and rolled his shoulder. A small growl escaped his cracked lips. Todd retrieved some gauze and ointment from their supplies. Jack tugged off his hoodie and tore through his old bandages with a swift swipe of his claws. The wound looked awful and smelled septic. Ointment wouldn't do much at this point. Todd rubbed the stubble on his face and pondered Jack's bullet wound. If the infection spread, Jack would be a goner. As much as he wanted to avoid the thought, they had to get to Mercy. He turned his attention to Dee.

"What about your arm?"

Dee flexed her arm tentatively. Pangs of pain arced across her nerves, but they weren't nearly as bad as a couple days before. She unwound her bandages. Her scabs cracked a little as she peeled away the gauze, but the wound was still clean and healing.

"It looks pretty good, actually," she replied, still looking at the scabbing, "I might be able to start shooting again in a week or two."

"We'll take it slow," Todd nodded.

It was a relief that at least one of them was healing properly, but the thought of travelling to Mercy in their state was not a promising one. He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to think. A dangerous idea crossed his mind, but he shoved it away. No. He couldn't even think of that. It was too much of a gamble with all of their lives. He kissed Dee and walked to the hall.

"Does the shower work?" he asked her.

"I haven't tried it. Let me know if it does."

Todd piled all of the glass and debris in the bathroom into one corner, complete with the old man's knife that was left in the tub. He tested a knob. Water spluttered a little from the shower head before a weak stream hissed from it. There was no warm water, but at least it was running. He stripped off his clothes and stepped into the cold water though his entire body protested. He looked around. Thank God. The bottle of body wash was almost empty, but it was enough. He reveled in the menthol smell of it and wondered if Dee would like it, too.

Dee inspected Jack's shoulder. He snarled at her a few times when she prodded swollen parts of it, but stayed still. She put some antibacterial ointment on it, but doubted it would do much good. When she started to wrap his shoulder, he pulled away from her and held out a clawed hand. He made a small keening noise. She raised her eyebrows.

"Do you want to try?"

He wiggled his fingers in response. She put the gauze in his hand and watched him as he wound the gauze under his arm and over his shoulder like Todd had done. There was such intelligence in his movements, even if they were a little clumsy. There were thoughts constantly firing in that brain, she knew, but they had no way of escaping. If only he could just speak. Just broken words would suffice. It would help if she had a clue.

"It's hard, isn't it?" she asked.

He made a nonchalant noise as he continued winding the gauze.

"No, I mean not being able to… well…"

He looked up at her with his one eye. He finished wrapping his shoulder and touched his mouth with a hand.

"Yeah. The not talking part."

A low rumble started in his chest and he tore his hand away from his mouth. Dee frowned.

"I didn't mean to make you upset. I was just thinking that maybe we could figure out a system or something. I know that there's a lot you want to say… we just need to find a way that you can say it."

Jack wanted that very much. The Dark lurched painfully at the idea. Silence made it far happier than words. The confusing woman was watching him. He didn't like that. He wanted to try to make words, but he was scared of it not working, especially in front of her.

"Maybe we could try little words," Dee suggested, "maybe we can start small and work your way up to bigger ones."

She saw a conflict in Jack's face. He shrugged at her and began to pull the gauze off of his bad eye so he could change the bandages. She sighed.

"Well, if you don't try, we won't know if it will work."

Jack fixed her with another enigmatic look and began winding the new bandages over his ruined eye. He held out a hand when he was done and wiggled his fingers again. Dee looked around. What did he want? He thrust his hand forward and wiggled his fingers again, impatiently.

"What?"

He put his hand to his mouth, held it out, and wiggled his fingers. She still didn't get it.

Jack's heart was going too fast. It scared him to even try. The Dark waited, too, curious as him. He was tired of the confusing woman not understanding. He tried to ask her again.

Jack put his hand to his mouth and made a muffled noise before repeating the gesture he had been doing. Noise… oh! Words! He wanted a word that he could try. She grinned at him.

"Okay, okay… let's try something easy first. Umm… how about 'yes'? Try that."

Jack's face scrunched up in concentration. His mouth moved uncertainly, trying to figure out how to begin. Dee made the 'y' sound a few times to help him out.

It felt like all of him was shaking. The Dark was tearing at him, telling him to stop. No. No! He felt noise rising in his throat, but it didn't sound like the word the confusing woman said.

"EhhhAAAUURRGH!"

The Dark howled inside his head happily.

Todd stumbled down the hall, his clothes halfway on and clinging to his still-wet skin. It sounded like Jack had lost it again. He heard Dee and slowed.

"No, no, come on. It's okay. You only tried once. Try again, Jack."

Todd saw Jack clawing the carpet with his head hung low and Dee ducking to meet his eye.

"What happened?"

"Nothing. Jack's trying to talk," she explained, and then turned to Jack and said pointedly, "and if he'd just try again, he could probably do it."

Jack grumbled and continued to refuse to look at them.

"What was he trying to say?" Todd asked.

"The word 'yes'."

"Wouldn't 'no' be easier?"

"Huh."

Jack took a breath.

"Nnnn… Nnnnn…" the noise tapered into a whine.

Todd clapped him on his good shoulder.

"Well, that's something! We can figure out 'no' from that, can't we?"

Dee smiled.

"I think so."

A hesitant smile spread across Jack's face. The Dark was not pleased.

* * *

Outside the door, someone was listening. He carefully posed the cold body of the Hunter in the sitting position before the door so the people inside would see it if they tried to leave. The Hunter's head hung at a strange angle off of its broken neck. He tried to right it, but it wouldn't stay. It didn't matter. It got the point across. He left to the deeper recesses of the apartment building.

* * *

The late afternoon blended into night. Dee showered while Todd made dinner. It was a wonderful feeling to scrub away all of the dirt and blood, cold though the water was. It was bracing, in a way. She hummed softly to herself as she worked a little body wash into her hair and loosened the months-old tangles. It wasn't much, but the shower was as close to paradise as she was going to get, these days. She enjoyed every minute of it.

Todd attempted to get creative with dinner. There was only so much spam and beans a man could handle. He scoured the kitchen for new ingredients and found some green beans, jerky, and half a loaf of bread that the old man had left in the freezer. It wasn't frozen, but there wasn't any mold to be seen on it. He heated up the green beans in a pan and added bite-sized pieces of jerky to the mix. He smiled. Anything to break the monotony.

Jack swung into the room. He'd been practicing his "n" noises in the bedroom, but Todd guessed that the smell of dinner had distracted him. He glanced at his friend as he stirred the green beans.

"Any luck?" he asked.

Jack was silent. Todd turned to look at him. A big bloody smile stretched across Jack's gaunt face. Todd turned down the heat on the beans and fixed Jack with a curious look.

"Well?"

"Nnno," replied Jack, his face brightening further, if possible.

His voice was harsh and gravelly, but the word was clear as day. Todd laughed triumphantly and shook Jack's good shoulder in congratulation. He grabbed the bag of jerky and offered Jack a piece. After the Hunter selected a piece, he took one himself and raised it up.

"To you, Jack, and your mastery of 'no'," he grinned.

Jack was a little confused, but happy nonetheless. He held up the food like the nice man did, and then wolfed it down. The Dark was ripping at his insides, but he didn't care. He had a word. He could make them understand a little at a time, now. It would be okay, now. He snuck another piece of food from the nice man's bag, and the nice man made that happy noise again. To his surprise, a noise very much like it came from his own mouth. He liked the sound of it.

Dee was too cold by the end of the shower to even consider letting herself drip dry. She quickly put on her clothes and hugged herself to keep warm. She padded into the bedroom and was contemplating warming up under the covers when she heard something that made her blood run colder. The boarded up bedroom window rattled ominously for a moment, and then stopped. She cautiously sidled up to the window to peek through a gap in the boards, but saw nothing except an empty alleyway. She crept under the covers and waited for a few minutes to see if it would happen again. Nothing. She left the warm covers to see what Todd had put together for dinner.

She was too far down the hall to hear the glass panes shatter.


	12. On the Move

Chapter 12

Dee wandered down the hall in brighter spirits. Jack had said his first word, Todd had made a wonderful dinner, and now there was a warm bed to cuddle into. As she stepped into the bedroom, her mood dimmed again. The bedroom was cold. Bits of shattered glass littered the floor and windowsill, though the boards that barricaded the window were still in place. More unsettlingly, the broken shards were coated in boomer gunk. She swept the room for a weapon, unnerved. There was nothing within reach and she thought she heard the familiar eerie chorus of the Infected below. It was ridiculous how well they could smell. Slowly, she backed out of the room.

"Todd," she called down the hall, "bring your gun."

The Infected on the street were starting to climb over each other in an attempt to reach the gunky window. Todd didn't think that it made too much sense to shoot them all and waste their bullets to kill a drop in the proverbial Infected ocean. Instead, he enlisted Jack's help to wrench the doors off of the cabinets in the kitchen and reinforce the window barricade. All the while he wondered how the hell a boomer could have reached their window. They weren't terribly agile.

Finally, they settled down to bed, if a little uneasily. Todd placed his AK on the floor next to the bed, and then slipped under the covers. He felt his heart quicken when Dee pressed against him, and felt that it had leapt into his mouth when she pulled his arms around her. Somehow, her warmth melted away any concerns he had about the broken window and the boomer gunk. He pressed his lips into her hair. _Mine. All mine._

Dee smiled when Todd's tired wheeze ruffled her hair and she snuggled closer to him. His strong embrace was reassuring, but she couldn't entirely shake the feeling that something was waiting outside the broken window. She kept her eyes trained the barricade even though she couldn't see anything. This whole predicament seemed unnatural. Eerily intelligent, if the latest Smoker incident was any indication. She curled deeper into Todd's warmth.

Begrudgingly and at long last, she fell asleep.

Jack couldn't. The hungry smell from the green stuff was still there, even though it should have gone away a long time ago. His stomach growled. He had eaten a lot with the nice man and confusing woman. He shouldn't be hungry. The Dark was louder than ever. It made Jack nervous. He went to the bloody room and closed the door. The round twisty thing was hard to use, and that was okay. He wanted to stay away from the nice man and confusing woman just to be safe.

The bloody room smelled less like blood, now. It smelled like water and something else… something nice. He plucked at his sleeves and sniffed them. He smelled like blood and danger and dirt. He didn't like it. He took off his hoodie, shirt, and bandages, but the pants were too hard to take off with his claws. He shrugged to himself and fiddled with the strange shiny thing in the tub where the old man had been until water fell down. He climbed inside and jumped. The water was colder than he thought it would be.

* * *

A piece of cabinet debris clattered to the floor loud enough to wake Dee. A few bloodied Infected hands groped in the dark. She pulled in a breath with a hiss and shook Todd awake. He startled awake and scrabbled for his gun. Dee looked around wildly for any sort of weapon she could use… and where was Jack? Another piece of barricade fell to the floor. They weren't wasting any time.

Todd squeezed off a few shots, but none that really did anything but make the Infected angry. He herded Dee back into the hallway and looked around for Jack. The apartment wasn't that big. Where was he hiding?

"Jack! A little help would be nice!" he yelled into the dark, taking a few more shots and knocking one Infected out of the window.

Neither one of them heard the bathroom door rattling above the tortured symphony of the agitated Infected.

* * *

Jack pounded against the door with all he had. His people were in trouble, and he was stuck. He slammed into the door again and again. The confusing woman shouted something outside. She sounded scared. He tried the twisty thing. It was slippery and he couldn't make it turn. The Dark was roaring louder and louder. It was hungry and angry. And then… nothing.

* * *

Todd was drowning in Infected. There was no way he could keep cutting them down by himself. Dee had gone to find her rifle, and in those brief moments the Infected had flooded the bedroom. His AK began to click uselessly. Damn! No ammo left. He started swinging madly and Dee caught the ones he missed. They were still losing ground fast. Where the hell was Jack?

As if to answer his question, the bathroom door splintered with a sound like a gunshot and Jack flew screeching into the crowd of Infected. He tore into them with such frenzied moves that Todd could immediately see that he was having another fit. Necks snapped. Blood and innards flew in all directions. Jack was different this time: there was no lingering on any one victim. He was a murder machine, leaping from one victim to the next the moment he killed them. Todd pushed Dee deeper into the hall. He was almost certain that if Jack ran out of Infected, they were next. The front door barricade didn't seem to be occupied. It was their only escape route.

* * *

Snap. Slice. Slice, slice, slice, snap. Good. Hunger. Slice. Warm and wet. Yes. Drink it. Good, good, yes! Still hungry. Grab and snap. Bite. Tear. Eat. Good… gone. Food was gone. No more left. Still hungry. Find more… find… hungry…

* * *

Todd could see Jack had run out of fodder. He and Dee began to tear into the barricade. They had to get the hell out of there. He could hear Jack scaling the wall up to the ceiling. He was stalking them. Todd turned to look at Jack, but continued throwing parts of barricade aside.

"Jack, please, calm down," he called into the dark.

The clawing on the ceiling didn't stop coming closer. A low snarl came from the hallway.

"Easy, Jack! Everything's okay. Just come down from the ceiling-" Todd attempted to negotiate.

Jack dropped down to the floor and continued to move closer. He was in there somewhere.

"Jack, no. Remember, no? Say no! Say no to this… whatever makes you lose it. No! Come on! No!" Todd was aware that he was begging, now.

The sounds suddenly stopped.

"Nnno," said Jack quietly before scuttling into a corner and curling into a bloody, ashamed ball.

It took almost an hour to coax Jack into looking at her. His halfway dried brown hair flopped in his face… at least, the part that wasn't plastered down with dried blood. It made him look all the more human. It was hard to believe that just an hour earlier he was mauling Infected like a rabid animal.

"What was it this time?" she asked him.

He gestured at her and then to the bedroom where Todd was attempting to repair the window barrier.

"Us? What did we do?"

"No," he grumbled softly.

"We didn't do anything, then."

He hesitantly put a hand to his stomach and looked away. Dee's blood chilled.

"You were… hungry?"

Jack turned toward the wall to hide his face, but Dee pulled him back to face her. She ducked her head to make his eyes meet her face.

"It isn't your fault that it's like this," she said, holding his gaze to make him understand, "it isn't your fault that you got hungry. It's not _good_, but… you didn't do it on purpose. Are you still hungry?"

"N…no," Jack said, uncertainly.

"You are. Okay. But… you had dinner with us. Didn't you have enough?"

Jack huddled closer to the wall.

"No, c'mon, it's okay…"

"No. N-n…Nnnnot," Jack spat the last letter.

Dee smiled. Despite everything, that was enough to make her smile.

"That's two words! Good, Jack!"

Jack should have been happy. He wasn't. He was hungry and he didn't like it.

Todd was dumbfounded by what he saw at the window. Boomer gunk was all over the outside wall of their apartment. Gallons and gallons of it, far more than any one Boomer could probably produce. There would have had to be at least a dozen Boomers working together up higher than they were usually capable of climbing. It wasn't adding up at all. How was this happening? He felt the strange sensation that he was being watched. He quickly put up the boards. There was no avoiding this. They had to get moving again.

* * *

"Now?" asked Dee a little more sharply than intended, "With Jack and me still not at the top of our game? How do you expect to get all the way to Mercy with only you to shoot a gun?"

Todd held her a little tighter, more out of frustration than tenderness.

"We can't stay here. We're a sitting target. Whatever is watching us is smart and strong, like Jack. We can't do this alone. We need him, and the only way to keep him healthy is Mercy."

Todd was right, Dee knew. She had seen Jack's bullet wound and it was worrisome.

"Fine, okay. When do we leave?"

Todd was quiet for a moment.

"What is it?" Dee prompted.

"We should probably leave right now. The faster, the better. We have a lot of ground to cover, and it will probably be easier to travel in the dark."

As soon as they cleared the barricade, they were met with Infected. Dead Infected. A Hunter sat rotting right in front of where the door should have been. Nothing had touched it but time. Jack sniffed it and pulled back violently with a screech. Todd clapped a hand over his friend's mouth.

"Shh. What's wrong?"

Jack wrinkled his nose and snarled. Todd looked to Dee.

"It smells wrong to him… this has to be a message if someone didn't want this Hunter eaten."

They both looked at their own Hunter, who whimpered. There was no time to waste. No words had to be said, they just ran. They got to the end of the first block before they met the Infected. Jack and Todd struck first and Dee cleaned up behind with her rifle-turned-club. The Infected were not particularly strong, but Jack and Dee were far too weak to keep up with the enemy.

The night became an endless pattern of run and fight, run and fight. By the time they were almost halfway to Mercy Hospital, all that Jack and Dee could handle was running and Todd was getting low on ammunition. They ducked behind a car to get their bearings.

"What now?" panted Dee, bloodied and aching.

Todd looked from Dee to Jack and back.

"If we let Jack go ahead of us, he can blend in and at least stand a chance of taking out a few Infected in our path."

"No," growled Jack flatly.

"Come on, Jack. We need at least one of us to get to Mercy for medical supplies. You are our best hope. We won't be far behind."

Jack grumbled and held his ground. Todd's teeth ground together. This was no time to be stubborn. He grabbed Jack by the collar and hauled him into the street. Just then, they heard the horrible retching and felt the warm liquid splash over them. The Infected were on them in an instant.

Dee swung her rifle until she thought it would break, but there was no getting through the ring of hungry Infected. Jack had leapt out of the fray so he could launch himself in at a different angle over and over again, but he was starting to weaken dangerously. All of this was going to hell in a hand basket. Todd was fighting hard, but losing. Blood –his and the Infected's- soaked his face. Jack leapt out of the crowd again and barreled into Dee, pushing her up the street back the way they came.

"No, Jack," she snapped and struggled against him, "let me help."

He was unrelenting. They were losing and he knew it. Todd shouted from the ring of Infected.

"Get out of here! Go back, Dee! We'll find you!"

Dee's heart became a knot. This wasn't happening. She beat against Jack's arms and back with her fist and rifle, but Jack would not give up. Todd shouted again.

"Get her out of here, Jack! Take her home!"

Jack whimpered back at Todd, and hesitantly began to drag Dee away. Suddenly, the ground shook with the familiar footsteps of a Tank. It was upon them in moments. Jack threw himself at the giant only to be tossed aside. The beast swung one huge arm and scattered the Infected in all directions. Dee saw Todd slide down the side of a building. She couldn't stop the scream. Blood streaked from the back of her boyfriend's head. The Tank turned its attention to her. The last thing she saw was the Tank's fist flying toward her.


	13. Bleak

Chapter 13

When Dee woke up, it felt like she had been hit by a truck, and then that same truck had backed over her and ran over her again. She opened her eyes with some difficulty. The light hurt quite a bit. Light… it didn't _feel_ like sunlight. What blurred objects entered her vision looked vaguely familiar. She slowly became aware of something surrounding her. A blanket? No. A duvet cover. She was in bed. Her vision was clearing. She was back at the apartment.

A dull ache flared throughout her whole body when she rolled onto her side. She winced at her own weak moan. Her back was in knots and she was fairly certain her wrist was broken.

"J-Jack?" she croaked, "Todd?"

No answer. Her heart ratcheted up a few notches when she remembered what had happened. She kicked off the covers and stood up quick enough to drain the blood from her head and send fire up her spine. She clutched the bedside table for support while she waited for her vision to clear again. She heard something move in the other room. As quietly as she could, she picked up one of the splintered planks left over from the window barrier that Todd had fixed. She crept shakily down the hall, holding it at the ready.

A labored hissing noise grew louder as she made her way down the hall. She peered into the living room. A very bloodied Jack was curled in a corner, shivering. He weakly lifted his head when Dee entered the room.

"Jack," Dee rasped and went to his side.

He was a gory mess. Just about every inch of skin that she could see was covered in oozing blood, abrasions, and bruises. Worse was his breathing; it sounded as if he were being squeezed by a giant hand every time he inhaled.

"Can you walk?"

He coughed and blood bubbled from his lips.

"N… No," he whispered feebly.

A very tiny smile played on his lips at his ability to use the word. Dee smiled, herself, much to her own surprise.

"Then I'll just have to drag you."

Confusion flitted across Jack's face and Dee left to get the duvet cover from the bedroom. With a little help, Jack was able to roll onto the duvet and, little by little, Dee dragged him down the hall and into the bedroom. It took a few failed attempts before she could transfer Jack from the floor to the bed. At the end of it, both of them were exhausted.

Dee flopped unceremoniously on the foot of the bed and Jack curled up with a pillow. Neither one of them tried to speak. Jack was too weak, and Dee was afraid to ask the questions that were burning through her mind. She was pretty sure she knew the answers, and none of them were what she needed to hear. Todd was probably dead. Jack was definitely dying. They hadn't gotten what they needed at Mercy. It was all so terrible that it didn't seem real. She should be crying, but nothing came.

She felt Jack's eye on her. She rolled over to look at him. Blood was oozing from the corner of his mouth and pooling on his pillow. Dee pulled herself up to the sitting position and crawled to his side. She had to see how bad the damage was.

Upon closer inspection, it looked like Jack had lost a few teeth in the fight and his gums were bleeding. Carefully and as gently as she could, she pulled his shirt and hoodie off. Deep purple bruises spanned huge portions of his torso and his bullet wound was gaping far larger than it had been before. She gingerly prodded his chest despite his pained snarls of "no". He had several breaks in his ribs, and that portion of his chest moved strangely when he breathed. She ground the heels of her hands into her eyes. Her head hurt.

She felt Jack moving next to her and opened her eyes again. He fished something out of his hoodie pocket and handed it to her. A large bottle of antibiotics. She took the bottle and looked up at him.

"I wonder if you can swallow pills," she mused.

It turned out that he couldn't. Not by a long shot. Instead, Dee wrapped the antibiotic pills in cubes of spam and got Jack to eat them. The spam stirred her appetite, so she put together a quick meal of tuna and fruit for the both of them. She cautiously tried to piece together what had happened after the Tank had knocked her senseless.

"Did you bring me all the way here?" she asked Jack around a mouthful of fruit.

His mouth twitched up in confirmation.

"And the Tank got you, too?"

He gingerly nodded his head. Dee took a few silent bites of tuna. She didn't want an answer to the next question. Why even ask it? Jack avoided meeting her eyes. It wasn't too difficult to guess what was on her mind. She dropped the subject.

The day passed slowly and uneventfully, much to Dee's disappointment. There was very little to distract her from the problems that they faced. She killed some time splinting her wrist and cleaning Jack's wounds, but that only lasted so long. She arranged and rearranged the ammo boxes when Jack fell asleep. She organized the food cupboards. She waited for Todd at the barricade that Jack had so sloppily reconstructed. He never came. An agonizing thought wormed its way into her head.

_I never told him that I loved him._

That broke through the numbness. She cried. Silently, at first, but the more she thought of what they had been and what they would never experience together, the more the pain grew. Finally, she couldn't contain it any longer and let herself bawl loudly into the growing darkness of evening. Her thoughts devolved from words into a dark mass of cold, empty, hopelessness. The only thing that drew her away from the all-encompassing sorrow was Jack whimpering quietly in the bedroom, reminding her that she was not yet alone. She clung to the thought.

Jack was breathing more shallowly, now. That worried Dee. She knew that if he wasn't able to breathe deeply, then he would risk getting pneumonia… but what could she do? Feeling useless, she did the only thing she could think to do and gingerly reclined beside her friend. He watched her for a moment before wiping away a tear she had missed. The gesture made tears well in her eyes again. She dashed them away in frustration. She couldn't afford to break down, not if they were going to survive. Jack whimpered with what was probably empathy.

The confusing woman missed the nice man, he knew. He missed the nice man, too. He never saw whether the nice man had gotten away or gotten smashed. He had been hit by the Big One before he could see anything. Now the confusing woman was sad and he didn't know what to do to make her better. She was the last one he had left to protect. He had to do better.

Dee was surprised when Jack slowly levered himself into the sitting position and opened his arms to her. She couldn't deny the hug he offered; she really needed it. He held her close for a long time, but she noticed that he was careful not to touch anything but her shoulders and back. He felt so safe to her, despite his occasional irrational and violent tendencies. She couldn't help but cry into his shoulder. He gently patted her hair.

"No," he whimpered pitifully in her ear.

Dee hugged him a little too tightly and he growled. She backed away quickly and wiped her eyes.

"Sorry."

Jack frowned.

"No," he said softly and patted her shoulder.

Dee was getting a little perturbed by the pitiful puppy eye Jack kept giving her. It was disconcerting and a bit awkward. Why were men so difficult? She crawled out of bed with her bad wrist clutched to her chest.

"I'm just going to go to bed," she explained hurriedly, "just… uh… make some noise if you need anything."

Jack blinked and slid back down into bed, twisting the covers in his hands. Dee rubbed her forehead.

"You didn't do anything wrong," she sighed, "I just… this is hard. Todd was… this is… Please stop feeling sorry for me. He was your friend too, remember?"

Jack whimpered again and held his hands up uselessly.

"I'll be fine. Just get some sleep, okay?"

Jack grumbled and gingerly rolled over. The confusing woman would always be confusing, he thought. Breathing hurt. Staying still hurt. His eye hurt. He couldn't even hear the Dark anymore because everything hurt. Also, his insides hurt… not because of the Big One, but because the confusing woman was sad and he couldn't do anything about it. Worse than anything, though, the nice man was gone. It hurt to cry.

Dee curled up in the living room with what few curtains Jack hadn't bled on. She missed Todd's tired wheeze. She missed his warmth at her back. She missed his breath in her hair. She missed… them. All of them. Every window-side conversation and late night keeping each other company twisted in her mind. She cried until she was too exhausted to cry. Instead she slept fitfully with dark visions of blood and Tanks darting in her head.

She woke to see Jack stretched out on the floor near her, wheezing in his sleep. When he'd gotten up and how he'd had the strength to amble down the hall, she didn't know. His shirt was still off and he was blanket-less. She covered him with a curtain and sat staring into space for a while. She replayed their trip to Mercy in her head a few times. How could they have been so reckless? Why did she agree to such a stupid plan? She got up and viciously made some beans. Anything to release the pent up anger.

_Todd, you idiot, why did you think that was ever going to work?_ Tears burned the backs of her eyes, but she wouldn't let them come. She focused on the beans. Unwelcome thoughts of their last dinner together made it all the more difficult to keep the tears at bay. No. She'd already cried. Now it was time to get up and keep moving, because if she didn't they would never get to the next safe place…If it even still existed.

Outside, someone was very unhappy. None of it had worked out as planned. He would have to find another way to flush what was left of the survivor group out again. His allies were too stupid to follow instructions, so he'd have to do it himself. He wanted to scream but now was not the time. He disappeared back down the darkened hallway to figure out his next step.

It worried Dee that Jack didn't wake up at the smell of food as he usually did. She had to coax him to eat when she finally managed to wake him up. Her heart clenched. He was so pale and looked even gaunter than before. If she didn't figure out how to help him, she would be entirely alone. She gave him another dose of antibiotics, forced him to drink some water, and cleaned his wounds again.

Jack was tired. He couldn't breathe and his insides burned. He didn't want the food that the confusing woman gave him because it would probably make him feel worse, but he ate it anyway. Then she might leave him alone so he could sleep. That's all he wanted. If he could sleep, then he could feel better and keep her safe. He would not lose her, too.

Dee frowned. Jack had fallen asleep while she was bandaging him up. He had gotten so weak over the last twelve hours, and all he had done was rest and eat. Whatever had infected the bullet wound in his shoulder was severe, and on top of that he was probably well on his way to getting pneumonia. Wonderful. All she had was a bottle of antibiotics and a first aid kit. They were, as Todd had so succinctly put it, royally screwed. But this time there was no "being smarter" than the problem. They were running out of supplies and out of time.

A.N.: Happy 2013, everyone! I hope your year is devoid of bothersome Infected knocking at your door.


	14. Reunited

Chapter 14

The next morning, Dee was not sure if Jack was even alive. She'd been steadily feeding him antibiotics and making him keep his fluids up, but it seemed like she was fighting a losing battle. His breathing grew increasingly shallow as time went on. This morning, on the bed, he looked like a corpse, pale and motionless. She watched him with her heart in her throat for a few moments before she tried to shake him awake. He snarled weakly and tried feebly to push her away. Thank God.

She didn't waste any time in getting the antibiotics ready and making herself some breakfast. It had been a couple days of using one hand to do most of everything, and she still wasn't used to it. It was becoming annoying. As she tried to open a can of beans single-handedly, a rattling came from the barricade at the door. Her blood froze. She had no Jack to help. She had no means of picking up her rifle. She had a can of beans and a pan. A pan! Quickly, she heated up the pan on the stove in case she had the opportunity to scald one of those damned Infected.

"If you can understand me, you'd better get the hell out of here!" she shouted at the barricade.

She heard a muffled hacking from outside. Great. A Smoker.

And then her heart leapt at the thin voice that followed, "Dee, let me in. It's Todd."

Dee clicked the stove off and rushed to the barricade. In a flurry of adrenaline, she started ripping apart the barricade with both hands. Fire erupted in her wrist, but she didn't care. It was only minutes before there was a hole in the barricade. She fought her way into the hallway and saw… well, nobody. She looked around, wondering whether she was hallucinating.

"Todd?" she hissed into the darkness.

No answer.

"Todd?" she yelled, her voice breaking.

Still silence. She stifled a sigh. Who knew what was lurking. Just as she bent to crawl back into the apartment when a familiar slimy something wrapped around her waist and yanked her off of her feet.

"I _knew_ it!" she screamed, more to herself than the Smoker.

When the Smoker dragged her close to its boil-covered face, she kicked it hard in the stomach. The Smoker coughed a cloud of green haze and loosened its tongue. She kicked again, this time hitting it square in its chest. The tongue dropped completely to the floor and she hastily untangled herself before sprinting down the hall and squeezing back into the apartment. Jack screeched weakly from the bedroom.

"I'm fine," coughed Dee as she filled in the hole in the barricade as best as she could.

When she was done, she couldn't tear her eyes away from the gaps in the barricade. She'd heard Todd as clearly as if he were just down the hall. Was she going crazy?

"Todd?" she called experimentally.

Just as before, no response. She tried again and again, getting louder all the time until her throat hurt. No answer. No Todd. She kicked the barricade in frustration and went to check on Jack. No use in getting sentimental when Todd hadn't been there in the first place. Jack was looking at her worriedly with his one eye and breathing just as feebly as before, if not worse. Dee waved a mollifying hand at him.

"I just thought I… um… I thought that I heard… something," she ended lamely.

Jack looked at her dubiously. Of course he'd heard who she was calling for. The whole apartment complex had probably heard her. Jack strained to sit up and, despite Dee's protestations, managed to lean propped up against the headboard of the bed. His breath became more labored in his new position, but he looked at her resolutely. He was more haggard than when they'd decided to take him in.

"Lay down, Jack, you need to rest."

"No," he rasped.

Dee crossed her arms and winced at the pressure on her wrist.

"Why are you being so stubborn?"

Jack sighed tiredly and gestured to her. Dee went to the bed and gently tried to push Jack back down.

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine. You need to rest so you can get better."

"No," Jack retorted with a stern look.

"No to which part? Either way-"

Jack suddenly began to cough violently, spraying blood and mucus onto the duvet cover. The only thing Dee could think to do was grab Jack's hand and squeeze it reassuringly; she didn't know what to do about someone who coughed up blood. Jack sagged weakly against the headboard when the fit was over and squeezed Dee's hand.

* * *

It proved to be a long and worrisome day. Jack's coughing didn't let up as the day went on, and he started to shiver uncontrollably by the time night started to fall. Dee heaped the spare curtains on top of him to try to keep him warm, but the extra coverings didn't do much good. Nor did warm food. Nor did heated water. Jack whimpered piteously every time she had to leave the room.

Jack felt the Dark closing in. No… not the Dark. It was a different kind of dark; big and strong and… happy? He didn't feel like he should be afraid of it, but he worried that it would take him away from the poor confusing woman. She needed him. He had to keep away from the dark for her. He fumbled for his Wesley. He felt himself get warm when he saw his Wesley in the bloodied picture, even if he did keep shaking. He couldn't stop the shaking. He couldn't stop the noises that came from his throat either. He wanted to, he knew the confusing woman got scared when he made the noises, but there was nothing he could do.

He didn't want to let himself go to sleep. The new happy dark might steal him away if he did. He would close his eyes to fool the confusing woman later, he decided, but he wouldn't let his tired body rest. Something smelled strange close by. It would be a bad time to leave the confusing woman alone.

It worried Dee that Jack shivered even in his sleep. What was she supposed to do to fix this? The antibiotics weren't strong enough, that was clear. She had no idea how to repair broken ribs. On top of it all, Jack's ripped bullet wound was refusing to close despite her religious routine of cleaning and bandaging it. Dee forced new tears away. She knew that Jack probably wouldn't last the night, and there was nothing she could do but watch him get weaker as the hours marched away.

Dee's watch stretched deep into the wee hours and her heart sank as Jack's breath became dangerously shallow. She wanted to wake him up to say goodbye, but couldn't bring herself to disturb the peace of what was probably going to be his death. Instead, she crawled closer to him on the bed and put a hand gently on one of his. Maybe some little part of him would feel it and take comfort from it. To her surprise, he turned his palm up and squeezed her hand. His eye weakly opened and a tiny smile twitched across his lips.

"I woke you up, I'm sorry-"

"No," Jack wheezed, and his smile disappeared in a fit of bloody coughs.

When the coughing subsided, the two friends sat in silence for a while. Finally, Dee broke it.

"It's okay, you know," she said, fighting the quiver in her voice.

Jack looked at her and made a small noise of curiosity. She squeezed his hand and felt her eyes burn again.

"It's okay for you to die. I know I can't help you, and I know you're hurting. It's okay to go, Jack."

Jack regarded her quietly for a few moments and his lips twisted in what was probably an effort not to cry. He took a shallow, shaky breath.

"Not," he said firmly, "no, not."

He gestured to her and opened his arms feebly. She couldn't deny his hug. Her breath hitched, but she stopped it from turning to sobs.

"Jack," she whispered, "I want you to know that you are one of the best friends I've ever had. I'm sorry that I ever doubted you, and I'm sorry that we fought. Please, forgive me."

Jack squeezed her tighter and she felt his chest shudder. Wetness trickled down the side of her neck.

"Oh, don't," she moaned, "you'll make me cry, too."

At this, Jack gave a raspy laugh, which turned into another cough attack. They broke apart and a small trickle of blood condensed on the corner of his lip. Dee wiped it away with the bed cover and Jack settled deeper into his nest of curtains and bed sheets. He looked absolutely exhausted.

"Sleep," she urged him, "I'll see you in the morning."

Jack begrudgingly followed orders. Soon after, Dee was asleep, too.

* * *

Jack squinted in the whiteness that surrounded him. He seemed to be walking in a vast bright expanse of emptiness. It was really unnerving. Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice to his left. It was that high, little voice that he knew so well. It sounded so different from the last time he'd heard it; it was so full of life and joy.

"Mommy! Stop! Mommy, he's this way!"

From somewhere in the brightness came the small owner of the small voice. Tears stung his eyes and he opened his arms. Small. No, Wesley. His little guy. The toddler crashed into his embrace and giggled madly when Jack hoisted him up into his arms.

"Daddy!"

"Hey, little guy! I've missed you."

He cried unashamedly into his son's hair as he held him close. Finally, after ages, he'd found his Small. His Wesley. The little boy wiggled impatiently and popped his head up to look at his daddy's face. He frowned.

"Daddy, why are you crying?"

Jack smiled and wiped his eyes with a sleeve.

"I'm just so happy to see you."

His little guy thought for a few moments and then smiled that huge smile that took up most of his little face.

"Then you'll cry a _lot_ when you see Mommy."

"I'm sure I will," Jack laughed.

He felt someone watching him from behind. He shifted his son in his arms and turned around. Wesley's prediction was spot on. Sheryl was as stunning as she had been on their wedding day. She came to him and hugged him and their son.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, "I didn't know what I was doing…"

"I know, hon, I know how it is," he said and drew her tearful face to his shoulder.

His shoulder. It didn't hurt. Sheryl squeezed him tightly and he only felt her warmth. There was no pain at all. No darkness. There was only Sheryl, Wesley, and beautiful shining white as far as the eye could see.

And then it all melted away into shadow.

* * *

There was a loud and fervent banging coming from the barricade. Dee shot out of bed and hazarded a glance at Jack. He was blinking confusedly and starting to pull himself up.

"No," she barked, "you stay there."

He froze and looked dazedly at her. She dashed into the living room to see what was trying to destroy their barricade. A very muddy and bloody man was hanging halfway inside the room, but was caught on the leg of a chair. He was jerking desperately in an effort to free himself. Dee rushed to him and tried to grab his hand. His head snapped up and he screeched.

Before she knew what was happening, the Infected snapped the leg of the chair and was flying at her. She dodged into the kitchen at the very last moment and landed hard on her splinted wrist. She cried out in pain and the Infected snarled a response. It was hunched ominously in the middle of the living room. Dee saw its muscles tense to spring and scrambled to get to her feet. There was a Hunter in the living room, and it wasn't Jack. Suddenly, Jack sailed through the air and knocked the strange Hunter to the floor. The two rolled, biting and growling, just out of Dee's sight. When she came around the corner, Jack was hobbling away from the other Infected shouting, "No, no! No, no, no, no!"

The Hunter advanced on him, stopping momentarily at every exclamation of "no". Dee finally got a good look at the new Hunter. It had black, matted hair and grey eyes that she recognized immediately. It heaved a wheezing sigh at Jack and her heart broke.

"Todd," she murmured, frozen in the kitchen.

Todd's gaze moved to her and his lips curled dangerously over his teeth. He leapt at her and Jack caught him in midair. With one deft swipe of his Hunterish claws, Todd opened Jack's throat. Jack fell limply to the floor, his one eye wide open, blood pooling underneath him. Dee's sob was cut short when Todd flew at her again. Thinking quickly, she sprinted to the bedroom and waited for him to follow. He did, and she dashed out of the room again, slamming the door behind her and blocking it with a chair from the barricade while Todd tried to negotiate the door knob.

She went to Jack. He was gasping desperately for air and clawing uselessly at nothing. His eye rolled to her and immediately filled with tears. Dee sucked a quivering breath and looked around. She went to the kitchen and picked up the thinnest blade she could find and came back, unable to hold back her sobs. She cradled Jack's head in her arms and looked down at him. Carefully, she poised the knife at the opening of Jack's ear and bit her lip.

"I love you, Jack," she cried, "Please forgive me."

She plunged the blade in.

Jack saw the bright emptiness again. Wesley was calling him.


	15. What's Left Part 1

Chapter 15

Dee cradled Jack's bleeding form for a long time, rocking back and forth in grief. She threw the knife as far away from herself as she could. That didn't relieve the guilt at all. She knew that she would never forget how the light drained from his eyes when she drove the blade into his brain. She cried hard and loud. What did it matter if anyone heard? It was only a matter of time before Todd got loose and killed her, anyway.

Hours and hours later, as she slowly began to think rationally again, she found that she didn't know what to do with Jack's corpse. She hated the thought of leaving it outside for the Infected to feed on, but she couldn't let it rot in the apartment. Carefully, she took the wallet from Jack's pocket and slipped it into her own. It took a lot of effort and a fair amount of cursing, but she managed to pull Jack through the gap in the barricade, drag him to a different apartment, and close him in an empty bedroom. Maybe there his remains could avoid being defiled by the Infected.

A familiar sound met Dee when she returned to her apartment. It was a small, sad sound coming from behind the bedroom door. Jack had made sounds very much like those when he was worried. Dee set her jaw and kicked the door. A frightened yelp came from the other side.

"Stop it!" she snapped.

It felt like this Hunter – she couldn't bring herself to acknowledge that it was Todd—was mocking Jack with a perversion of his method of communication. Jack always used his whimpers and whines to get a message across. Chances were that the new Hunter was using it to trick her. It wouldn't be the first time the Infected had set a trap that appealed to her humanity. She rearranged the chair under the doorknob for good measure.

It wasn't long before the whining started up again. Dee was in the kitchen wondering whether it would be better to eat well and wait for the Infected to come and kill her, or whether she ought to just let herself starve. She finally picked up a can of tuna, reasoning that death by dismemberment would be the lesser of two evils. She kicked the door again as she passed it to silence the Hunter. The Hunter hit the door once in response and grumbled something unintelligible. Unable to fight a sudden fit of curiosity, Dee set down her tuna and knocked twice on the door. There was a pause, and then the Hunter knocked twice as well. She knocked three times. The Hunter expelled that familiar wheezing sigh. Her heart clenched painfully around a shred of hope.

"I want to try something," she said loudly, so the Hunter could hear, "if you can understand me, do this."

She knocked once on the door. The Hunter echoed the knock immediately.

"Will you answer some questions for me?" she asked.

Another knock came from the Hunter's side.

"Do you know who you are?"

There was a tense silence for a few moments, and then an uneasy shuffling from inside the bedroom. The little shred of hope that she had been clinging to started to dissolve. She probably wouldn't get Todd back. At least, not in the way she remembered him. She bit her tongue to keep the tears from escaping.

"Are you hungry?"

The Hunter knocked frantically at the door and whined loudly with Todd's voice. Dee swallowed the lump forming in her throat.

"I will give you food, but can't hurt me if I open the door, okay?"

One good, solid knock came from the other side of the door. She went to the kitchen, opened a can of spam, and returned to the bedroom door. Cautiously, she moved the chair aside and turned the knob. A gentle pushing came from the other side of the door and Dee allowed it to slowly swing open. One familiar grey eye peeked out from the matted tendrils of black hair. It was wide and staring with something akin to fear. The Hunter slowly crawled out of the bedroom, stopped, and sat in the hallway. Dee placed the can of spam in front of him and backed away.

"Here, I don't like spam."

The one eye she could see blinked and its brow furrowed. The Hunter chewed his tongue and stared at his clawed hands. Dee knew that gesture. She took a step forward. Suddenly, the Hunter grabbed the opened can of spam, scrambled into the bedroom, and slammed the door. Dee could hear the screeching and destruction happening on the other side. She felt her mouth twist despairingly at the noise. Some naïve part of her had hoped he wouldn't have fits like Jack. She dared to believe that he might be different… he might be the same old Todd she'd always known. That didn't seem to be the case, and that was painful. She picked up the can of tuna and took it back to the kitchen. She didn't feel like eating anymore.

* * *

It was a full half hour before the Hunter's fit subsided. When he had apparently pulled himself together, he knocked once at the door. Dee was hesitant to open it again.

"Are you okay, now?"

Another knock.

"How do I know that you won't fly off the handle again?" she asked, a little more sharply than she meant to.

The Hunter made a strained noise that might have been an attempt at speech. The noise woke up memories of Todd going through puberty. She opened the door against her better judgment. The Hunter refused to make any eye contact. Instead, he sat in the hall, bowed his head, and held up the now-empty can as if it were a peace offering. Dee gingerly took it from him.

"Are you still hungry?"

The Hunter's head snapped up and he looked at her with something like excitement in his eyes before he remembered himself and returned his gaze to the floor. Dee led him to the kitchen and started heating up some beans. His grey eyes were constantly drawn to the hissing pan, no matter how many times he tried to look away from Dee. It was a struggle getting him to wait to eat the beans until they had cooled. What was it with men and food?

* * *

AN: I know, I know, I'm back into the woefully short chapter habit. Unfortunately, university has started up once again and my time has been devoted to homework. Because of how terribly short this entry is, I intend to make a part two to it. Thank you for your patience, friends. I hope the new year has been good to you so far, if it has happened to you yet.


	16. What's Left Part 2

Chapter 15 Part II

Todd proved to be more dexterous than Jack when it came to using silverware, and more inclined to copy Dee's methods. There was a strange tension in his face as they ate; it was as if he were straining to remember something just barely out of his reach. They sat across from each other on the living room floor. His eyes were continuously flitting up to study Dee's face for a few moments and then back down to the beans. Dee smiled at him and bit her lip to fight back tears.

"You know me," she confirmed, "before… well… this happened to you, you were my best friend. Do you remember? You asked me to be…"

Her voice died when his expression turned despairing. He started at her quietly and unblinkingly for several long moments. His eyes searched every inch of her face. His focus made her uncomfortable. She looked anywhere but at him. This was so strange. They had spent countless hours making eye contact for most of their lives, and now she couldn't stand the gaze that she had once thought romantic. He made a small noise that drew her eyes back to his face. He gently knocked once on the floor.

Dee blinked.

"You remember me."

He knocked again.

"Do you know my name?"

His hand moved to knock again, but halted before it hit the floor. He chewed his tongue in concentration. He finally looked up at her and slowly reached out a hand to cover hers and frowned. He didn't know. His grey gaze locked on her green one. Dee couldn't hold back the sobs. His hand squeezed hers as she dashed the tears away on her sleeve. He whimpered and pushed away the plates between them. He tentatively sat beside her and stroked her back. She leaned against his shoulder and he stiffened with a growl.

"Please don't," she sniffled, "please don't lose it."

The growling continued and grew slowly louder. Dee, gripped with a courage that she didn't understand at all, faced him and cupped his face in her hands. His face had contorted into an animalistic, evil expression. His eyes were hard. His lips had twisted into a malevolent snarl. The expression shook her, but she held on.

"Stop it, Todd," she demanded, unable to keep the quiver out of her voice, "come back."

Todd ducked his head and his shoulders bunched as he strained against himself. Shaking, he wrapped his arms around Dee and held her gently. She hugged him close to her, saying every soothing thing she could think of, petting his matted hair comfortingly. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the shaking started to subside and the growling grew quieter. Finally, after what seemed like ages, Todd relaxed against her and whined quietly in her ear. She rested her forehead on his shoulder and sighed.

"Are you okay?"

Todd freed one hand and knocked on the floor. He released another of his tired wheezes and she hugged him tighter.

"What is it like?"

He leaned back so he could look at her. He searched her face with pleading eyes.

"What is it like when you feel that?" she asked again, undeterred.

He thought a moment, picked up her hand, and pressed it over her eyes. He then took her other hand and put it over her heart. He pressed his hands over her ears and waited. She heard her heartbeat loudly in her ears and was surprised when she winced as it quickened. Todd suddenly put his mouth to one of the hands covering her ears and growled again and again, louder and longer each time. When she could take no more, she pulled away.

"Oh," she exhaled, when her breath finally returned.

She watched Todd's face for a few moments and watched as his expression dissolved into hopelessness. She hugged him to avoid seeing the pain that she now sort of understood. She felt so frightened, wrapped in darkness of her own mind. How must that be when there is no escape? No wonder Hunters destroyed whatever they could put their claws on. She held him tighter and he scuttled back to his plate of beans, eyes wide with an animalistic fear.

"What did I do?" asked Dee, trying to fight the hurt that she felt, but failing to keep the bite from her voice.

Todd winced slightly and drew further away with his plate. He watched her as he picked up his fork again and resumed eating, albeit hesitantly. Dee ate silently for a while and avoided Todd's gaze as best she could. Todd… was he Todd? He looked like him, and acted a little like him… was there a Todd in there somewhere?

"Why did you come back?"

Todd looked at her a moment, and then peered over his shoulder at the barricade for a disconcertingly long time. Finally, he returned his gaze to Dee and shrugged. Dee got up and filled up a few gaps in the barricade. She turned to look at him.

"Are you staying here?"

Todd hunched forward and knocked once, stealing another glance at the barricade. Dee quickly picked up her rifle and walked to the bedroom. She pulled the bloodstained curtains from the bed and left them out in the hallway. She'd be damned before she fell into another trap.

"You should probably sleep out here," she called to the Hunter, "goodnight."

She shut the door with a snap and piled what debris from the Hunter's fit that she could lift to form a new barricade. The boards over the window still seemed to be decent, so she left them as they were. The beginnings of twilight glowed sullenly through the small gaps in the boards. She guessed that it was about four in the afternoon, but she couldn't tell for sure. She climbed into bed and pulled the duvet close around herself. It was going to be a long, long night. She dearly missed her diary, wherever it was now.

* * *

The Hunter chewed on his tongue until blood dripped down his throat. He was supposed to wait for the others. He knew what would happen if he didn't. But then there was this woman who knew him. She had said that they were best friends. What were those? He should know what those were. He knew many things that the others didn't. He didn't bother asking why… there was too much to think about.

He held up the metal thing in his hand. He knew what it was… but he didn't remember what it was called. He felt his teeth meet his lip and he blew air.

"Ffff."

That _sounded_ right. There were more sounds to it that he didn't know how to begin guessing at. He put it aside. Why was this so difficult? He _knew _things. They were all there in his head somewhere. The Growl made quiet noises in his ear and he shook his head hard to make it go away. He remembered the woman's arms and soft words. The Growl slowly went away and he heaved a sigh.

That woman. There was such a strange feeling in him when he thought of her. There was something about her that calmed him and terrified him. He didn't know fear until he had come here. The Big Ones didn't frighten him. Even the Man did not frighten him. This woman definitely frightened him… but why? He thought about how she looked. She had no claws, no huge tongue, no giant arms… She couldn't hurt him as much as he could hurt her. He blinked and chewed his tongue once. He could hurt her. That scared him.

His head spun to look at the blocked door. _They_ wanted to hurt her. He threw himself down the hall.

* * *

A sudden banging came from the bedroom door and made Dee jump. She picked up her rifle and clutched it so hard that both her arm and wrist throbbed. The Hunter made a noise of desperation and rattled the doorknob wildly. He whined pitifully and Dee's teeth set on edge when he began to claw the door.

"Stop it!" she yelled at him.

He stopped, but the whining increased. It wasn't like Jack's whining. It was Todd's voice when he was trying to convince her not to do something rash, only without the words. She clutched the rifle tighter.

"What do you want?" she demanded, knowing there would be no answer.

Todd's voice grew thinner in desperation. She kicked off the duvet and began to tear down the barricade with her stronger hand. Todd burst into the room as soon as she turned the doorknob, roughly grabbed her hand, and dragged her down the hall toward the living room barricade.

"What are you doing?" she hissed, her wrist feeling as if it were breaking again under his fingers.

He wordlessly began tearing through the barricade, occasionally glancing back at her with some urgency. She didn't trust this. First he was acting like they were being stalked beyond the barricade, now he was tearing the barricade down and trying to coax her out of the apartment. Something was definitely wrong with the new Todd, well, besides the whole being Infected thing. She quietly backed away down the hall and into the bedroom before he noticed she had gone.

As she was rebuilding the bedroom barricade, the apartment suddenly shook with familiar thundering steps. Todd gibbered in fear from somewhere in the living room, and was soon pounding on the bedroom door again. A range of shrieks came from somewhere deeper in the apartment complex. Todd pounded harder and gave his own shriek. Despite her misgivings, Dee tore down the barricade again. She felt strangely apathetic. Maybe she was too tired to care anymore. At least she wouldn't die alone.


	17. Where to Go From Here

Chapter 16

Todd exploded through the door as soon as he had the opportunity and slammed it shut behind him, as if it would do any good. Dee didn't bother picking up the rifle. It would be useless. Instead, she walked to the other side of the bedroom and waited. Todd looked at her incredulously, picked up the rifle, and tossed it to her. It clattered at her feet. He growled at her, but she just couldn't make herself care. The majority of the Todd that she had loved was gone. Jack was gone. What did she have to live for anymore? It would be easier to die.

The Tank's fist broke through the door without too much effort and started to rip away enough of the wall to enter the room. Todd bravely crouched between Dee and the oncoming Infected, though he didn't stand a chance. The Tank continued to struggle with the door, but a few Hunters spilled in. Todd immediately flew into action, using calculated and deadly swipes to take them out. Dee recoiled until her back pressed against the wall. This wasn't her Todd anymore; this was a killing machine.

Still more Hunters and common Infected poured in around the bulk of the Tank. Todd kept up the pace, slashing arteries and stabbing deep into chests, but he was tiring fast. Suddenly, the Infected stopped coming. The Tank pulled back. Dee wondered whether she was imagining things. A tall cloaked figure moved gracefully through the ruined door, bent to Todd's level, and jerked him up by his neck. Dee cried out at the hooded face turned in her direction before slowly focusing once again on Todd.

"You had orders," came a rasping voice from within the hood, "and you disobeyed me."

Todd struggled and kicked, but to no avail.

"No one disobeys me."

The figure's arm twitched as it flexed its hand against Todd's throat. Dee bent to pick up the rifle. The hooded figure suddenly looked at her.

"Drop it."

Dee gripped the rifle until her knuckles turned white.

"I said drop it," hissed the figure.

"Drop him, first," she countered.

Wordlessly, the figure turned and hurled Todd at the bedroom wall. With a sickening crack, Todd collided with it and slid to the ground. A trail of blood smeared across the wall. Dee dropped the rifle and ran to him.

"Don't touch him or I will finish the job," threatened the figure.

Dee jolted back to reality at the sight of Todd crumpled on the floor. Death was much more frightening than she had thought just moments ago. She eyed her rifle. It was too far away to try and grab for it now. The cloaked thing beckoned her with an eerily long and pale finger.

"Come here."

"Why?"

"Because if you don't, I'll be sure you that never see the Hunter again."

Dee froze for a few moments before doing as the figure said.

_No_, Todd begged in his mind, _stay with me._ His head hurt when he wasn't moving, but as he tried to get to his knees it hurt a hell of a lot more. The Man had come, just as he'd feared, and now the Man was going to hurt the woman. The Man would probably kill him, afterward, but he was more concerned about the woman. He blinked hard to try and get his sight to come back. He needed to see his target, but he was losing blood fast. He felt a growl vibrate in his throat as he pushed himself up into his crouch. The woman was too close to the Man, now. He had to finish this.

Dee winced as the cloaked figure brushed its bony fingers against her cheek. They were cold and hard and… dead. Was this thing another Infected? Suddenly, a shriek rang out behind her and Todd launched over her head. He landed on the cloaked thing and began swiping at it madly. The much larger thing grappled with him, but Todd put up a good fight. Dee rushed for her rifle, but she heard something that stopped her dead.

"G-go," croaked Todd's voice from behind her, "go, Dee."

She turned to face him. He was straining against the hooded thing, his face half obscured with blood, but the gaze from those grey eyes came from the Todd she knew. He suddenly growled at her.

"Go!"

There was only one escape left. She ran to the window barricade and pried away the boards with her rifle as best as she could. Finally, she freed enough of them to squeeze through, but she had no idea how to get down without killing herself. She screamed when an arm wrapped around her waist and she felt strong legs kick off from the windowsill. Todd absorbed most of the shock with his legs when they landed in a tree that had been planted in front of the apartment building. He held her tightly until he seemed satisfied that she was balanced on the thick branch, and then he slumped against it in exhaustion. Dee stared at him in wonder.

"You said-"

"Dee," he interrupted weakly and lifted his head to look at her in earnest.

"You remember."

He let his head fall back again and his chest heaved in an effort to catch his breath. He knocked once on the branch with a shaking hand. Dee inched closer to him and tore a strip from his grimy shirt so she could wrap his head.

"When did you remember?" she asked as she tightened the makeshift bandage with a tug.

He growled and looked at her exasperatedly.

"Sorry," she muttered, dropping her gaze.

He chewed his tongue a moment, sighed, and leaned forward to touch her chin. She looked back up at him and saw the familiar ghost of a smile on his face. He pulled her to him and held her so she wouldn't fall out of the tree.

* * *

Hours marched tensely by. Infected came out of the apartment in droves, but Todd was able to ward off any that had discovered their hiding place. As the number of Infected slowed to a trickle, Dee started grilling Todd about what had happened in the apartment. It was hard to get any definite answers from Todd, but she managed to glean that there was one new Infected who was slowly winning the Infected to its cause. Apparently it was really keen on getting its hands on her, and Todd was supposed to help take her in. Dee couldn't get anything out of him after that. He refused to look at anything but his clawed hands for a long time.

Finally, she couldn't take his silence anymore. One question had been gnawing at her since he had said her name.

"Do you remember me, Todd? I mean, _really_ remember me?"

Todd looked at her for a long moment and frowned. His lips moved soundlessly a few times before he said, "If… I… yes… will go… to s-s-sleep?"

Dee's eyes stung. She remembered that night in the safehouse. How long ago had that been? _If I say yes, will you go to sleep?_ Those had been his words. She laid against him again and cried into his shirt until she did fall asleep.

* * *

Todd found no rest that night. Between the sounds of nearby Infected and the questions rolling around in his head, it was a wonder that he managed to stay still at all. He didn't know why, but he wanted to pet Dee's hair. He wanted to tell her something that he couldn't find the words for, even though he knew them. He wanted to do something with her lips and his, but he didn't trust himself not to bite her if he did it wrong. And then there was this horrible nagging wisp of a memory that he couldn't quite grasp. Something Dee had said a long time ago. The Growl would have come, he was sure, if Dee hadn't been curled up in his arms. She was saving him, somehow. He needed to keep her safe in return.

His heart clenched when he gently tucked a bit of her hair behind her ear. It was strange, the thing she did to his insides. It made him warm all over and made parts of him ache. Stranger still, he liked the feeling. Somewhere in his head, he'd known the feeling before. He just couldn't place it now, just like so many other parts of his mind. It irritated him.

Dee shifted and her hand landed on his chest with a thud. He gingerly put one hand over hers, painfully aware of the difference between them. He pushed the thought away. Just because they didn't look the same didn't mean that he couldn't give her this feeling that he had. He felt like he'd had a thought like that before, but he couldn't place it. He growled and forced his eyes shut.

* * *

Up in the apartment, someone was pacing restlessly. He almost had her. He was nearly to his goal… and that Hunter, one of his best, had stolen her away. He had sent the others away. There was no use for them at the moment. The woman had to be mostly intact if he wanted to put his plan into motion. Most of the others were too stupid to keep that in mind when they saw their target.

He picked up the rifle that the woman had dropped. Her scent was still on it. He splintered part of the metal off of it and tucked it into his robes before sweeping away into the darker parts of the apartment building. Hunters scuttled out of his way.


	18. Mutating Mutations

Chapter 17

Dee woke before Todd did. The sun was high and Infected were milling about the street below. Todd still held her securely in his arms, one hand tangled in her hair and the other braced against her back. She rested her chin on his chest and watched for a few long moments. His mouth was open slightly and he was making a strange noise that was halfway between a growl and a snore. How much of Todd was left in there? He had certainly grasped language much faster than Jack had, and there were still a fair amount of memories in that diseased brain of his. She gingerly brushed a shock of hair away from his bloodied face. His claws dug slightly into her back before relaxing once more. His face was still Todd's, if a bit ashen. She wanted to warm those blueish lips, but feared infection. She settled for running a finger in circles on his chest.

* * *

Todd's eyes snapped open and he quickly found his feet. The woman. She wasn't with him now. He whirled around, scanning the branches for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. He shrieked in desperation and launched himself at the apartment building wall. He scuttled up the side and squinted in the bright afternoon light for any sign of her. He went limp against the wall when he saw her at the very top of the tree, out of sight of their branch from the night before. The woman, Dee, he remembered, glanced at him and almost lost her balance. He hated that he'd made her do that. He was still scary to her.

"Dee," he called in a way that he hoped was reassuring.

He felt his mouth tug in a strange upward way when she relaxed at his voice. He carefully leapt to the tree and clambered up to meet her.

"Good morning," Dee smiled when Todd joined her in the upper branches of the tree.

"G'mmm," he growled sheepishly, refusing to look at her.

She used a hand to tilt his face toward her. He loved how warm she was.

"Todd, do you remember Jack?" she asked.

Todd thought for a few moments. That word was familiar somehow, but he couldn't remember exactly what it was. He drew his mouth tight and looked at her uncertainly.

"That's okay," she sighed, "it's probably better, anyway. I only bring him up because he tried to learn how to talk, too. He took a long time to figure out two words. You, though, have learned plenty of words in a really short time. You shouldn't feel bad."

Dee stopped for a moment.

"I wonder what Jack would have learned by now."

Something was wrong with her eyes. Water was coming from them. He didn't like that at all. He tried to wipe the water away with the back of his hand, but it made her face dirty. He didn't like that either. He growled quietly and she made a strange noise. It bounced and sounded nice. It made her mouth go up and her eyes close. He felt that tug on his own mouth and touched it with his fingers. Unfamiliar, but good. He wanted her to make that noise again. He remembered something.

"Dee?"

She opened her eyes and looked at him. He carefully extended a hand out toward her and placed it gently on her stomach. Her face changed. She wasn't mad… what was the word? Not understanding. Confused. That was it. His mouth tugged up again and he gently wiggled his fingers against her stomach, careful not to touch her with his claws. She made the good noise again and tried to move away from him, but he followed.

"Todd," she gasped between good noises, "stop! I'll fall!"

He kept wiggling his fingers and following her down the branch, his face hurting from all the tugging. Suddenly, she slipped. He caught her around the waist and pulled her up without having to try. She hit him with her hand.

"What's gotten into you?" she demanded.

To his surprise, the good noise vibrated in his chest and came from behind his teeth.

Dee blinked. Was Todd actually laughing? He hadn't laughed, honestly _laughed_, in ages. She was still wrapped in his arms. His grey eyes sparkled. Before, that sort of sparkle had meant that he was up to something. She felt her own gaze narrow.

"Whatever it is, don't even think about it," she muttered.

He laughed again and carried her to the edge of the branch. He kicked off and held her tight with one arm. Deftly, he scaled the apartment building wall, holding her close enough to feel his heart beating. He was still laughing. She punched his arm and he laughed louder. Soon, they were on the roof of the apartment building, sitting together and looking out at the city. If you really squinted and ignored all of the Infected, Dee thought, it was actually a very pretty day. She leaned against Todd's shoulder. He tensed, but only for a moment.

"Todd?"

"Mm."

"I'm going to do something, okay? And I really don't want you to freak out on me. I just… I want to figure something out."

Todd turned and studied her. His expression was wary.

"Trust me," she said, "I promise it won't hurt you."

Todd blinked at her and tapped the concrete of the rooftop with his knuckles.

Dee pushed her face close to the side of his. He felt The Growl claw at the insides of his head, but he fought it. What was she going to do to him? He turned his head to see, and her lips landed on his nose. That. That was what he had wanted to do to her earlier. His mouth tugged again. They had done that before, he was sure. It meant that they were something special together, but the words wouldn't come. He suddenly wanted his lips in her hair and didn't understand why. He tugged her into his lap and let her hair brush his face. It felt good and right. He held her close. He didn't ever want her to leave.

* * *

As the afternoon wore on, Dee wondered whether or not it would be safe to return to their apartment. There were plenty of supplies that they could not survive long without, and she hated to let them go to waste. After much arguing about what she assumed was her safety, she convinced Todd to take her with him to collect what they could. He crawled down the wall with her securely tucked under one arm. It took some time to negotiate the broken wooden barricade on the window, but they managed. Inside appeared to be the same mess that they had left it the night before, complete with copious amounts of blood and the Tank-sized hole in the bedroom door frame. And then Dee looked up. She clapped a hand over her mouth and tried not to scream.

Above them, Jack's corpse was dangling from the ceiling fan by one of his arms, leaving him in an eerie pose of triumph with his head ducked and his fist extended upward. His sleeve had been ripped completely off to show the scars on his arm. "NO HOPE" had been carved into his flesh. Dee's strength left and she fell to her knees, sobbing.

Todd did not like this. The Man was definitely angry now, and the Man made you hurt in every way that he could think of when he was angry with you. He pulled Dee to her feet and pulled her out of the room. She did not need to be in there with the Jack. He remembered, now. He was a smart Hunter, like Todd. The Jack had been good to them. Todd tried to make himself feel the thing that made water come from Dee's eyes, but it seemed not to exist inside of him. Or, if it did, The Growl had hidden it away somewhere dark. No time for it now, anyway.

Dee was led to a corner of the kitchen and Todd took his position between her and the kitchen entrance. He dug unceremoniously through the cabinets, flinging cans onto the floor when they appealed to him. Dee got up and began pulling water bottles from where they had kept them under the sink. She glanced around. Something was off about the apartment, but she couldn't place it. It was enough, though. They had to leave. Todd bounded off to pick up their med kits so they could fill them with the food and water that they had collected, as well as stock up on medical supplies. Dee picked up the rifle and contemplated grabbing a pistol that their survivalist host had left behind.

After a few moments, she decided to unload it and put it in her med kit with some ammo. Todd returned with the filled med kits slung across his shoulders. He brushed past Dee and began to tear down the barricade at the front door. He was right; it would be safer travelling out of sight at this time of day. She moved what she was able to with her weak wrist. Todd tugged at her when the path was clear and growled softly when she withdrew.

"Could you do something, first?"

Todd impatiently looked down the hall and tapped the floor once.

"Please cut Jack down from the ceiling. I hate to leave him like that."

Todd nodded and propelled himself into the bedroom. Carefully, he snapped the rope with his claws and laid Jack out on the bed. He was back at Dee's side and tugging on her in just moments. He seemed more anxious that she was. At his coaxing, they quickly made their way down the hall and into another apartment. The bedroom led to the fire escape that they had used before. Once they reached the fire escape, Todd tucked Dee under one arm again and shot up the wall of the library to the roof. He wasted no time in leaping from roof to roof with Dee in tow, even though she could feel him tiring.

"Take it easy," she shouted over the wind whipping past them.

Todd growled something low and jerked his head back toward the library. Two strangely large Hunters were following and closing in. Suddenly, Todd dove. They fell into the gap between two buildings, and Dee squeezed her eyes shut.

_Great. We get this far, and we're going to die like this._

They landed among what felt like cushions. She opened her eyes. Not cushions, trash bags. Todd had landed them in a dumpster. The smell of rotting food started to hit and Dee found it hard not to gag. Todd scrambled to pull the lid closed and they waited until the Hunters' growls and shrieks faded into the distance. When she could wait no longer, Dee shoved the dumpster lid open and gulped fresh air. But the air wasn't fresh. It was full of smoke.

Three unusually quiet Smokers were silently wandering the alley, occasionally looking up at the rooftops or down the street expectantly. Dee closed the lid and pulled herself closer to Todd. They must have just missed the arrival of these silent Smokers when they jumped into the dumpster. Large Hunters, quiet Smokers, and all of them strategically placed to kill Todd and Dee. This new Infected was not only smart, but also seemed to know all about how to stack a team. She hated to think what lay ahead. It had been sheer luck that they were alive at all right now.

Suddenly, a series of knocks rattled one side of the dumpster and one of the Smokers wheezed.

"Dee, let me in. It's Todd."


End file.
